A fast blast around the streets of Madrid saw the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta draw to a close this afternoon, with laps of the local circuit to be completed – totalling 96 kilometres of action. It was a steady race with a four rider break going clear and all Team DSM riders in the peloton, saving energy for later in the day.

The gap to the break held steady and as expected, they were brought back going into the last ten kilometres. Moving forward en masse, the team worked well to bring Megan Jastrab into position for the sprint. It was a hectic run in with a few attacks and a constantly jostling for position peloton, with Jastrab swamped a little. Fighting her way out, Jastrab produced a good turn of speed, gaining on those ahead all the way to the finish and crossing the line in fourth place.

“It was a nice circuit to finish on today,” explained Jastrab. “The whole team was all in for me in the sprint today. It was a nice feeling to take that confidence in the race. A break was away for most of the day which made it a little calmer in the bunch today. In the final three kilometres I was with Liane and Floortje in a really good position. The final U-turn with one kilometre to go, we lost some places but Floortje brought me back to a good position. The sprint opened up early and I missed the acceleration of the other sprinters on the left by a second. I was slightly blocked after that and had to wait to start sprinting and didn’t have enough power to come back. I really wanted to give the team and girls a better result after all the work they did for me, but fourth was the best I could do in the end.”