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Canada’s Alison Jackson wins Stage 2 of Vuelta España Femenina

National champ crushes the sprint to take a big victory

Canada's Alison Jackson wins Stage 2 of Vuelta España Femenina Photo by: La Vuelta Femenina 24 by Carrefour.es
April 29, 2024
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Alison Jackson (EF Education – Cannondale) took a fine win on Stage 2 of the Vuelta España Femenina. She had a perfect leadout from Kristen Faulkner and scored a fantastic victory in the sprint finish. The national champion outkicked Blanka Vas (Team SD Worx-Protime), who took second, with Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) coming in third.

The day’s race was 118.0 km Bunol to Moncofar. Jackson now sits second overall, just eight seconds behind Blanka.

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With the win, she now leads the points competition. There are six stages left of the Spanish race: Tuesday’s race is lumpy, a 131.0 km ride from Lucena to Teruel.

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“I came in with a real fire to win this, even starting with the rain,” Jackson said after. “Basically, I was just in the right position at the right time. With teammates to take care of me right from the beginning to the finish. I got to choose my sprint, when I wanted it to happen. It’s just unbelievable to come with the win.”

The Vuelta began on Sunday with a team time trial. Although a crash disrupted their run-in to the finish line, the Lidl-Trek women claimed Sunday’s race in Valencia. Italian Gaia Realini pulled on the first red leader’s jersey. This is the first Grand Tour of the 2024 UCI Women’s WorldTour and 10th edition of the race. It is eight stages in length, one more the 2023 edition.

The 2024 course was slightly longer than last year’s team time trial, the squads faced 16 km around Valencia, with an intermediate time check at the 8-km mark.

Jackson is one of several Canucks racing at the Vuelta España Femenina.

The Canadians racing are Olivia Baril, Maggie Coles-Lyster of Roland, and a trio from EF Education-Cannondale consisting of Jackson, Clara Emond and Magdeleine Vallieres, and Adèle Normand of Eneicat-CMTeam.

Last year, Annemiek van Vleuten took the win over Demi Vollering on the GC by a mere nine seconds. The top Canadian was Baril 19th.