Vuelta a Burgos Feminas: Lotta Hentala wins stage 1 as Elisa Balsamo suffers brutal crash against barriers

A day for the sprinters at the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas. Several attacks were close to succeeding, but ultimately it was Lotta Hentala taking the win in a sprint marked by a very hard crash.

The first day of the race was quite windy and that led to a lot of tension. No breakaway was formed early in the day ,with plenty teams in the head of the peloton. Occasional splits took place, but the race then calmed down into it's second half.

Katrine Aalerud attacked with 54 kilometers and the gap grew to as much as 3.30 minutes over not many kilometers as no-one picked up the pace in the peloton. Eventually this came down to SD Worx.

The gap was of over 2 minutes with 10 kilometers to go and it looked like the win could come from the front. But SD Worx put in all it's resources to bring the Norwegian back, including big stints in the front from Demi Vollering and Marlen Reusser. She was ultimately caught with 2 kilometers to go.

Carina Schrempf attacked immediately, and SD Worx did not have the riders to close it down anymore. Into the final kilometer Lidl-Trek took over the front of the peloton. However the work was not worth it as Elisa Balsamo was involved in a brutal crashed only meters from the finish line.

It was a ruined sprint, in which Lotta Hentala was the fastest and overtook Schrempf mid-sprint whist Lorena Wiebes was only third.