TheShockNews of riders out of the race continued to grow on stage 3 of La Vuelta Femenina, with Emma Norsgaard among those bowing out of the race as she felt the impact of a stage 2 crash.
“The Dane’s DNF from La Vuelta Femenina, Tuesday, was a result of her pain to elbow (bruise + stitches received after Monday’s stage two) + significant cervical contracture following yesterday’s crash,” said Movistar on social media.
“Transferred by race ambulance to Teruel’s Hospital Obispo Polanco, examinations for major injuries came back negative.”
Norsgaard, however, was far from the only withdrawal on the stage – with a number of crashes adding to withdrawals from a start list that had in fact started dwindling even before the race got underway, with Canyon-SRAM’s Justyna Czapla and Neve Bradbury unable to start due to illness.
Anna Henderson was then among the abandons after coming down on a crash marred stage 2. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider who had not long returned to racing after breaking her collarbone did it all over again and was listed as a DNS on stage 3. As was Clara Emond (EF Education-Cannondale), who also fractured her elbow in the same crash near the end of that stage.
Marta Cavalli and Vittoria Guazzini of FDJ-Suez were also added to the abandon list on stage 3. Cavalli has already had a tough start to the season after starting late after injuring her pelvis in a training fall and will be a much missed part of the team, with the rider having finished second in the race in 2022.
“Unfortunately I couldn’t take the start this morning at La Vuelta Femenina. Health is our priority,” said Cavalli in an Instagram post.
“I cheer for my FDJ-Suez teammates. Thanks to the team always by my side.”
The French team, which includes Évita Muzic and Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner Grace Brown, is now down to five riders, along with Canyon-SRAM who lost Bradbury as a GC card but still have Kasia Niewiadoma and Ricarda Bauernfeind as a powerful duo to chase the overall.
There were four riders listed as a DNS (did not start) and six as a DNF (did not finish) – including Natalie Grinczer (Roland) and India Grangier (Coop-Repsol) – on the stage 3 results. There is also potential for further withdrawals before or during stage 4 due to the crashes of previous days.
At 142 kilometres it is the longest stage of the race, descending toward a likely bunch sprint in Zaragoza, and while the terrain may not be particularly challenging the crashes on stage 3 will have left a number of riders and teams ascertaining the impact overnight. One such example is Liv-AlUla-Jayco’s Teniel Campbell who came down on stage 3 but continued on to finish, with her team reporting on social media that she had no broken bones but some pain, and plans to start stage 4.