Marianne Vos storms to second victory in succession on Stage 4 of La Vuelta Femenina in Guadalajara

Marianne Vos (Team Jumbo Visma) powered to a second victory in succession on Stage 4 of La Vuelta Femenina in Guadalajara on Thursday. It was a sprint to the finish for Vos and a host of other riders, but it always felt as though the 35-year-old would have too much for her rivals when it really mattered in a thrilling finale to the day's racing. Ad Emma Norsgaard (Movistar) took second place, while Switzerland's Marlen Reusser was third for Team SD Worx.

CyclingExclusive: Van Vleuten is 'not unbeatable' – Blythe24/02/2023 AT 11:23 It was a stunning final kick from Vos, who now holds a 25-second lead in the general classification. Earlier on in the race, Vos was involved in a crash with Silvia Zanardi (Bepink) and Coralie Demay (St Michel — Mavic — Auber93 WE) which left her battling to get back into the main group At a similar time, a breakaway group which was made up of Olympic champion Anna Kiesenhofer (Israel Premier Tech Roland), Ana Vitoria Magalhaes (Bizkaia Durango), and Patricia Ortega (Massi — Tactic Women Team) had been formed. They had dropped Maryna Varenyk (Eneicat — CMTeam — Seguros Deportivos) from their ranks by this point.

With 52km of the race remaining, Kiesenhofer was dropped by Ortega and Magalhaes, before Ortega herself was distanced. Eight kilometers later while only Magalhaes remained from that initial front group, Ortega and Kiesenhofer joined up in a chasing group and the peloton was a minute behind. Ortega was soon dropped again, but Kiesenhofer didn’t stay solo for long.