Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuros), who won the Amstel Gold Race and Flèche Wallonne in April and finished fourth overall in the Itzuria women's race, had high hopes for a good showing in the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas.

However, the Italian's race was abruptly halted early in the second stage of the Spanish stage race when she crashed hard and hit her back. Cavalli abandoned the race and was taken to a hospital in Burgos for further examination.

Cavalli's team, FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futures, released a statement in the evening, tweeting: "Marta Cavalli was forced to retire after a fall on stage 2 of the Tour de Burgos. After a medical examination by the hospital staff in Burgos, where Marta Cavalli was taken, there are no broken bones and her condition is stable... The entire FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope team would like to express our utmost support to Marta, who will return to Italy tomorrow."

The FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope team is also looking forward to seeing Marta again in Burgos.

Cavalli himself wrote in an Instagram post (opens in new tab): "After a good start in Izzuria, I thought I could do better in the last race of this block. I went to the hospital for an examination and fortunately I didn't have any broken bones."

Without Cavalli, the French team had to rely on Cecilie Uttrup-Ludwig and Grace Brown, who had recently returned to racing after missing the Ardennes Classics with Covid-19. Uttrup-Ludwig took the stage win on the climb to Ojo Guarena, which was also the goal of Saturday's third stage.