Brennauer wins the overall as Balsamo sprints to final stage victory at the Ceratizit Challenge

The German played a perfect tactical game, defending her overall lead to repeat last year's win in the three-day Spanish stage race

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Elisa Balsamo won the final stage of the Ceratizit Challenge with a perfectly timed sprint in Madrid on Sunday. Her Valcar Travel and Service team came to the front in strength inside the final kilometre, dominating the road, and when Lorena Wiebes launched early the former junior world champion came off her wheel, crossing the line first.

Wiebes (Sunweb), who had expended a lot of energy trying to take bonus seconds at the plethora of intermediate sprints, held on for second, while Marta Bastianelli (Alé-BTC Ljubljana) took third place.

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Owen Rogers is an experienced journalist, covering professional cycling and specialising in women's road racing. He has followed races such as the Women's Tour and Giro d'Italia Donne, live-tweeting from Women's WorldTour events as well as providing race reports, interviews, analysis and news stories. He has also worked for race teams, to provide post race reports and communications.