Volta Comunitat Valenciana Femines 2022 - Ellen Van Dijk makes it two wins from two for Trek-Segafredo in Spain

Ellen van Dijk eluded a chasing peloton to secure Trek-Segafredo's second consecutive stage victory at Volta Comunitat Valenciana Femines 2022. The Dutchwoman escaped the clutches of a strong reduced group in the final 15 kilometres of a thrilling Stage Two alongside Soraya Paladin of Canyon-SRAM.

Ad/> That set into motion a desperate chase from the group behind as van Dijk and Paladin's fatiguing legs on a brutal day of racing in Spain dragged them ever closer to the line in Concentaina. World Championships'Elisa was just faster on the line' — Vos happy despite sixth road race silver in Flanders26/09/2021 AT 08:17 And it was only by a matter of rapidly closing metres that van Dijk and Paladin held off the chasers, with the European champion gritting her teeth to beat Paladin to the line in a performance that displayed the sort of power that helped her World Championship time trial winning ride in Flanders last year.

However it was not enough to ensure that Trek-Segafredo held on to the race lead — with second place, Paladin took the leader's jersey from Stage One winner Elisa Balsamo. The riders took on an atypically-constructed 117 kilometre stage that began in Altea.

The first category Alto de Confrides was the sole categorised climb of the day, with a 7.8km section of uphill testing the riders significantly kilometres. The larger lump gave way to more minor bumps in the remainder of the race, but a strong field nonetheless threw plenty of attacks at one another in a bid to establish early season form.