Cyclist Grace Brown has continued her strong form in Europe, taking the lead of the the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas heading after wining the first stage on Friday morning.
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The Team BikeExchange rider, who was selected for the Australian Olympic road race team on Thursday, was well placed at the head of a reduced bunch heading into the final climb of the day.
The 28-year-old was alongside teammates Amanda Spratt and Ane Santesteban as they began the final ascent.
At six kilometres to go she made her move, accelerating away from the peloton on the gradual slopes with only two riders in Elise Chabbey and Niamh Fisher-Black able to go with the Australian.
The reduced peloton fought to bring the trio back with the gap dangling around 15 seconds.
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As the line approached, Brown led out the sprint, leaving her fellow attackers in her wake as she powered to her second UCI victory of the season and into the race lead for Team BikeExchange.
"It was our plan to attack and try to win the stage. We wanted to put a little bit of pressure on early on in the crosswinds and see if we could split the peloton," she said after the stage.
"My plan then was to hold on until the last climb and then attack as we got to the crest and try to hold onto that until the finish.
"I didn't know if I would have any other riders with me, but I had two riders, unfortunately they didn't work a lot with me until the end, Elise Chabby pulled a few turns and then it was a sprint against them and I got away with it.
"I knew on a normal day if we had all pulled equal turns then I could probably win the sprint but I was a bit unsure if I had done too much, so I was relieved to win in the end.
Brown continued: "I came into this race feeling pretty good after the last Spanish races so I was confident that if the stage played out as we planned, then I should have a pretty good chance today.
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"It felt really hard after I attacked, and you're never really sure if you will hold on, especially when the gap is quite small.
"I was a bit worried if we played too many games at the end with the three of us that we wouldn't keep the gap and the bunch would come past us, so I knew I couldn't wait too late until my sprint, which is why I led it out."
Sport director Alejandro Gonzales-Tablas said everything fell into place for the team.
"The outcome of today's race was exactly the plan, it was everything we wanted from kilometre 30 when we tried to split the peloton in the wind and then going into the climb," he said.
"It was an amazing job from the girls to put our riders into the top position into the climb and with the attack with Grace over the top, it was all as planned.
"It is weird that everything happen exactly as we wanted but it is one of those good days.
"Tomorrow is a stage that should be a bunch sprint, we have a couple of sprinters and it should be a good day for Grace to keep the leader's jersey."
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