Faulkner 'waited' for attacks from Vollering and Longo Borghini: "There was also some luck involved"

Kristen Faulkner managed to win the fourth stage of La Vuelta Femenina with an impressive solo effort. On one of the final climbs of the day, she attacked fiercely and dropped Dutch champion Demi Vollering (and Elisa Longo Borghini), eventually crossing the finish line alone, ten seconds ahead of the group of favorites.

"As a team, we came here to go for stage wins," begins the 31-year-old American from EF Education-Cannondale. "And that's obviously gone really well, with Alison (Jackson, ed.) also securing a win. It’s still quite early in the race, but we’re already over the moon and incredibly proud of ourselves."

Faulkner preferred to counterattack rather than attack himself

At one point, shortly after some intense echelon action, the peloton became quite restless. "Everyone wanted to be at the front," the stage winner explains. "Then the group was stretched out a few times. Fortunately, I was well-positioned and thus managed to stay with the leading contenders. From then on, it was a battle with a group of favorites."

"All in all, it was a perfect day for us," concludes Faulkner, who then reveals that she had been thinking about attacking at that specific spot. "I was considering a last-minute attack, though I thought many others had the same idea. That’s why I decided to wait and counter an attack instead of launching one myself. I was pretty sure that some of the ladies would try to break away. I waited for a few to make their move and then launched a counterattack. When Demi and Elisa tried, I quickly got on their wheel. That turned out to be the right move. I knew pretty quickly that it was the right tactic, though of course, some luck was also involved."