Victory number 257 for Marianne Vos - Dutch legend describes La Vuelta Femenina triumph

Marianne Vos continues to bring in strong victories and today at La Vuelta Femenina she won for the second time this week, beating Mischa Bredewold in the final sprint in Baltanás - although it certainly wasn't wasy to achieve it in the fast dash to the line.

"I’m very happy and exhausted to be honest. We knew today was a chance for us and we wanted to go all in and we did. In the end it was really close so I was happy I could just take it," Vos said in a post-race interview.

"There were a lot of long, straight, open roads. Not a lot of wind, but enough wind to make it hard, mostly headwind. It was not ideal for the breakaway, and then a big group went, but we had two riders in there. For us, it was a good situation. When that got closed, and the final opened we wanted to take control."

The final climbs saw a few moves, to which Vos had to respond to directly, but ultimately it would come down to a sprint. There was a sharp corner close to the finale and an uphill ramp to the line, but this proved to be ideal for the Dutchwoman's attributes.

"It was a fast run-in with the downhill, all the teams were trying to prepare. Already on the final climbs it was tough to stay in contention. I got brought in in a really good position, and then Imogen Wolff again did a really good job bringing me into a really good position," she explains.

But her SD Worx compatriot put up a very good fight and made the task at hand quite hard. "Mischa Bredewold opened her sprint, and the last 150m it was just us two-abreast. It was very close. We’re very happy with today, and we’re going to celebrate a bit, and then get ready for the last stage. Hopefully we can finish it off with a nice day."