Three components make today’s victory of Elisa Balsamo at the Setmana Valenciana special because from the moment she has started to ride her Trek Madone Elisa made her debut in the Spanish race and immediately left her mark because today’s finale left everyone in suspence until the very end the test of strength and character of the former World Champion and her teammates Elisa won it ahead of Marianne Vos and Noemi Ruegg (@GettyImages) Balsamo today was the fastest and the strongest an adjective that deserves to be shared with all her teammates Frenchwomen Berteau (Cofidis) was set to take solo victory after a 60km breakaway but the fundamental contribution of Lidl-Trek in catching her changed the outcome the script of the race had been a long and The last second-category KOM (Alto de Barx) at 14km to go before the descent to Gandia seemed to be the perfect springboard for Berteau The French rider deserves kudos for her tenacity but the same can be said of Balsamo & Co The victory in the sprint thus crowned a great team sprint the trademark of many victories achieved by this group in recent years The team who lead Elisa to her first win in 2024 (©GettyImages) the joy and the compliments for this victory with the whole Team Without the commitment and the trust of my teammates I would never have been able to raise my arms to the sky first today We knew the course and expected a tough stage the peloton had the merit of believing until the end The final sprint was a direct confrontation between sprinters because all the teams had worked to close the gap and there were no real lead out to manage I chose to follow the wheel of Marianne Vos who for me remains the best in this type of situation I make no secret of the fact that I was afraid of getting caught in the sprint traffic but I knew I had to follow her: my instincts rewarded me Clearly it’s a great satisfaction to start the season like this Winning in the first race of the year gives an important boost of confidence and something that has been repeated for three years now But for me today it also matters a lot how the win came It’s confirmation that the work done was good Sacha Earnest is coming off a breakout junior season Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Port Saplaya and Malvarrosa: these are some of the less frequented beaches in summer in Valencia You think that just because you got up early and arrived at the beach around 10:00 a.m But the problem is that thousands of people act with the same logic you’ve been walking around for half an hour and you can’t find a place You are left with three options: criminally park it screaming for a ticket The province of Valencia has more than 35 blue flag beaches among which are La Malvarrosa or Port Saplaya But there is sand and plenty of sea beyond the city of Valencia These are the most recommended beaches to escape from a Sunday beach traffic jam It is the great excursion on a beach Sunday: go down to Oliva to enjoy one of the best coasts of the coast of Valencia. It is one of the most unspoiled surrounded by a whole ecosystem of dunes that gives it a landscape rarely seen by the province it received for the first time the blue flag award which certifies the quality of its water and facilities AG-Soudal-QuickStep rider takes over top spot from teammate Moolman Pasio in Gandia finishing second behind stage winner Elise Uijen (Team DSM) in a two-up sprint into Gandia AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step went into the final stage with the leader's jersey on the shoulders of stage 3 winner Ashleigh Moolman Pasio but the general classification lead passed to Ghekiere after a long effort in the day’s breakaway of which Uijen and Ghekiere were the final survivors attacking the remainder of the break on the final climb before the finish. In the final sprint Uijen just edged the Belgian to take the stage win Ghekiere and Moolman Pasio faced a wait after the finish while the final GC was calculated – the 19-year-old Belgian lay 21 seconds down at the start of the day and took six bonus seconds at the line meaning she needed 16 at the line to win.  with Moolman Pasio having finished safe in the bunch to secure second overall giving AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step a one-two on GC “It was amazing,” Ghekiere said at the finish “I didn’t realise I had the GC also My only goal today was the mountains jersey “At first I was a little bit sorry for Ashleigh the final stage of the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana was a less challenging one featuring three small categorised climbs as the peloton headed from the Tavernes de la Valldigna to Gandia peaking out at 350m of altitude before a 16km downhill run-in to the line.  With stage 3 winner and overall leader Ashleigh Moolman Pasio only leading by four seconds over Amanda Spratt and only 21 seconds separating the top 18 riders there was still a chance for the general classification to change as the race headed to its finale The stage started with a 40km stretch of flat roads and as a result no break went in the early part of the day and after an hour of racing all was still together the attacks eventually began and a group of around 20 riders stretched out a 40 second gap on the peloton Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step) took maximum mountains points ahead of Queen of the Mountains Katia Ragusa (Liv Racing TeqFind) With 13 teams represented in the front group the peloton seemed happy to let them go and the gap grew out to two minutes with 50km remaining Quagliotto (Laboral Kutxa Fundación Euskadi) Perkins (Fenix Deceuninck) Patiño (Movistar) Though most of the riders were a long way down on the general classification the move wasn’t completely lacking in GC threats as stage 3 breakaway rider Elise Uijen was only 1:17 down and Moolman Pasio’s own teammate Ghekiere was just 21 seconds adrift of the leader at the start of the day.  The breakaway situation remained stable for a long stretch and it wasn’t until the final 30km that the situation began to change.  Sanguinetti and Ragusa were the first to be dropped when the breakaway tackled the penultimate climb and as they hit the base of the final Alto de Barx Kerbaol and Larrate went on the attack first as the break’s advantage fell under a minute Kerbaol went into the final 20km alone but was rejoined by Barker Ghekiere and Gaia Realini (Trek-Segafredo) who had bridged from the peloton with some help from teammate Elisa Balsamo Kerbaol and Barker were soon distanced again leaving just three at the front with the peloton now less than 30 seconds down.  Ghekiere crested the top of the Alto de Barx first securing victory in the Queen of the Mountains jersey With Realini and Ghekiere on equal time on GC the overall victory was within sight for both if the trio were to stay away it was Uijen who really pushed on on the descent The pair had 40 seconds on the remainder of the peloton going into the last 4km and looked set to battle it out for victory with Ghekiere poised to take the overall if the gap on the line was big enough it was a sprint between climbers but Elise Uijen managed to hold her power for the longest just edging out Ghekiere on the line to take the win The pair finished 16 seconds ahead of the bunch which with bonus seconds gave Ghekiere the overall win just one second ahead of her teammate Moolman Pasio.  This marks the 26-year-old’s first win as a professional and caps off a successful week for AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step and Moolman Pasio’s Queen stage victory Results powered by FirstCycling Matilda is an NCTJ-qualified journalist based in the UK who joined Cyclingnews in March 2025 she worked as the Racing News Editor at GCN and extensively as a freelancer contributing to Cyclingnews She has reported from many of the biggest events on the calendar She has particular experience and expertise in women's cycling She is a graduate of modern languages and sports journalism finished eighth in the first stage of the Tour of the Valencian Community run on Thursday over 113 km between Tavernes de la Valldigna and Gandía Arlenis was once again one of the protagonists in a road race with the participation of most of the best cyclists on the planet Arlenis finished sixth in the same initial fraction of the Vuelta a la Comunidad Velenciana which she won overall in 2022 by winning two stages the opening stage of the sixth edition was dominated by world champion Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) who showed her finishing skills in a massive final stage in which she clearly overcame the Dutch Olympic and world champion Mariane Vos (Team Visma) became the rider with the most victories in the Valencian race starting in Borriol and finishing in La Vall d’Uixó the Tour of the Valencian Community will have four stages – from Thursday to Sunday – and will travel through the towns of Castellón For this edition 22 professional teams have registered BALSAMO Elisa (Lidl – Trek )VOS Marianne (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)RÜEGG Noemi (EF Education-Cannondale)NIEWIADOMA Katarzyna (Canyon//SRAM Racing)LACH Marta ( CERATIZIT-WNT Pro Cycling)BARIL Olivia (Movistar Team)MAJERUS Christine (Team SD Worx – Protime)SIERRA Arlenis (Movistar Team)CECCHINI Elena (Team SD Worx – Protime)DIDERIKSEN Amalie (Uno-X Mobility) Con información de revista mundo ciclístico Three people drowned in the sea on Tuesday in Tavernes de la Valldigna (Valencia) in a tragic afternoon The incident happened on the southern stretch of the Valldigna coast The deceased were two men aged 60 and a woman aged 62 The place where the bodies were recovered is an undeveloped section of beach where there is no lifeguard service when the victims were pulled out of the water by other bathers and members of the Red Cross The two men and the woman were unconscious Firefighters from the Valencia provincial brigade Tavernes de la Valldigna Local Police and the Red Cross began cardiopulmonary resuscitation until the arrival of the medical services Two intensive care ambulances were sent to the scene but the medical teams could only confirm the death of the three people An autopsy will reveal the causes of the drownings Deaths by drowning in the waters of beaches swimming pools and rivers have set off alarm bells in the Valencia region this summer The first half of July is already marked in black and the data increases the concern about the coming weeks of summer a 70-year-old man drowned in the pool of a villa in La Nucia (Alicante) health professionals assisted a three-year-old boy who was pulled from a swimming pool in Benidorm he was transferred to the Marina Baixa Hospital in La Vila Joiosa by advanced life support ambulance with symptoms of drowning Another man drowned on Levante beach in the Alicante town of Benidorm on Monday and a 56-year-old woman drowned while scuba diving in the port area of Burriana (Castellón) on Wednesday bringing the number of deaths so far this month to more than ten Comentar es una ventaja exclusiva para registrados Both inside and outside the city there are blue flag beaches to enjoy a swim and a day at the beach with all the services Valencia is a city that is best experienced in summer The beaches of Valencia and its surroundings are an essential element to endure the hottest months of the year If during next summer you are looking to enjoy the coast near Valencia Further away from the city center, about 15 minutes by car, is the Saler beach, where dunes, slopes and tranquility predominate compared to urban beaches. It looks like a virgin beach because of the dunes and it borders with the Pinedo beach and the Albufera. It has an extension of more than 2.5 kilometers. it is an oasis of peace compared to the crowds of Port Saplaya It is located parallel to the V-21 highway and can be accessed from Meliana and Alboraya is the natural extension of the Malvarrosa so if you don’t like crowds in summer If you are willing to invest a little more time in the journey (about 50 minutes) as it offers the possibility of renting windsurfing equipment. It is also important to note that it is adapted for access and enjoyment of people with reduced mobility during bathing Located just 20 minutes from Valencia on the Albufera road Recatí-Perellonet beach stands out for its blue flag its extension of more than 3 kilometers and its pleasant feeling of tranquility offering all the services one can expect from a beach The Patacona beach connects with the Malvarrosa and is one of the busiest beaches in Valencia throughout the summer An environment full of restaurants and entertainment for the whole family that invites you to relax along this kilometer of beach and more than 100 meters wide on average another of the benefits of La Patacona is its access for people with reduced mobility Flotation devices and a free bathing assistance service to ensure a pleasant bathing experience for a wide range of people A little further away from the urban beaches is the beach of Canet d’En Berenguer Officially it is known as the beach of Racó de la Mar and has an extension of 1,250 meters in addition to about 80 meters wide of fine sand and calm waters