Burlova is the Best Young Rider on TDU opening stage
Lifeplus-Wahoo kicked off their 2024 campaign with the first stage of the Women’s Santos Tour Down Under, with Kristyna Burlová finishing fourth in a fiery sprint finish, taking home the Best Young Rider Jersey while Kate Richardson’s gutsy early efforts show promising talent for the remainder of the race.
As the peloton rolled out of Hahndorf to start the 93.9km opening stage to Campbelltown in 34 degree heat, Richardson looked confident at the front of the peloton, sporting our new Lifeplus-Wahoo Maap kit in style.
The race was competitive from the start with the first intermediate sprint forming an opportunity for a break of three to go to clear. Richardson attacked from the outside of the bunch 12km in to show her fantastic strength.
Richardson fought hard in no man’s land, and when reaching the first climb of the day, the Scottish rider was just 11 seconds off the trio. Tackling Hawthorn Climb, averaging 4.1% over 3km, Richardson stayed in control, with the front group of India Grainger (Team Coop-Repsol), Katia Ragusa (Human Powered Health) and Matilda Raynolds (Team Bridgelane) in her sights.
Richardson persevered with the lumpy Adelaide Hills, proving challenging to make the catch, and finally made it up to the breakaway group with 56km to go and a three-minute lead on the peloton.
The second intermediate sprint in Woodside saw Richardson sit in to take fourth place and the front group continued to work well to extend their gap to four minutes.
Realising the extent of the lead, the peloton began to put the power down and the front group approached the second queen of the mountain climb of the day inside the final 40km. With the ebb and flow of the peloton, Burlová suffered a crash and was forced to change her bike and chase back on.
Richardson summited the Kenton Valley Climb, before the Australian rider Raynolds attacked solo over the top of the climb with 35km left. A mechanical for Ragusa saw her rejoin the peloton, leaving Richardson chasing out ahead with Grainger, before being caught with 24km remaining.
In the closing stages of the race, the riders tackled the undulating, twisty roads, with the peloton coming together to ensure a bunch sprint finish, with the Lifeplus-Wahoo squad well in the mix.
A brilliant lead out from Kaja Rysz and team captain Alicia Gonzalez saw Burlová power to fourth place, with her knee still bleeding from an earlier crash, demonstrating her determination and dedication to sit in ninth on the GC and claim the Young Rider Jersey. Rysz finished in 14th place, Gonzalez came in 16th, Heidi Franz finished 40th, Karin Söderqvist finished 53rd and Richardson 87th after a brilliant day for the squad.
After her podium presentation, Burlová said:
“It was a super hot day, but in the first half of the race it was really easy. I crashed unfortunately with about 50km to go - it was a really stupid crash because there was a lot of braking and was quite a heavy crash but I’m okay. It was quite hard and long to chase back. In the final, the girls did an amazing job for me and Alicia did a super lead out and I just took the wheels of the other sprinters. It was a good day in the end.”
Speaking after her efforts, Richardson said:
“I felt really good today legs wise. I discussed with the team before and my objective of the race was to try and get into a break - I really wanted to make that happen because I’ve not had that experience in any race yet, particularly a WorldTour race.
“I was a bit blocked in when the break went so I ended up having to bridge over to the front which was a pretty big effort in the end - it took a lot longer than I had planned initially! I eventually got there and it was really good to be there from a development perspective. The last 10km was pretty tough with the heat and with that effort, but it’s been a really, really good day for the team with Kristyna’s fourth place. Solid day!”
Tomorrow the riders will race in the longest ever stage of the Tour Down Under at 104.2km long, tackling 2,079m of climbing. Riders will set off from Glenelg beach before facing a category one climb just 12.4km in, with a maximum gradient of 15.6%. The peloton will continue through the Adelaide hills before racing two-and-a-half laps of a circuit through Stirling.
Check out the finish video below and our gallery of images here.