The overall title at the Vuelta España Femenina was one of the rare misses for Demi Vollering last year. The SD Worx-Protime leader wasted little time setting that right in this year's edition, taking a convincing solo victory on the first mountaintop finish on stage 5 and vaulting into the race lead overall.
How it unfolded
- With two late climbs on the 114 km course from Huesca to Jaca, including the Alto de Fuerte Rapitán finish, the pack was on high alert for breakaways. Despite numerous early attempts, no significant moves ever materialized, and by the race's midway point the pack was still intact.
- The nervous racing did have other effects however: two major crashes, at 55 km to go and 43 km to go, brought down large numbers of riders. Among the fallers: stage winners Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Alison Jackson (EF Education-Cannondale), who both regained contact with the pack after the first crash; and Lidl-Trek captain Lizzie Deignan in the second. Deignan was also able to get back to the field.
- Once the climbing started attacks came again, with Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez) and Canyon-SRAM's Ricarda Bauernfeind briefly striking out, and then UAE Team ADQ's Karlijn Swinkels. Swinkels led over the first summit, and on the descent disaster struck Lidl-Trek again when Gaia Realini crashed and was forced to chase.
- Swinkels attacked again in the brief valley before the final ascent and held her lead onto the early slopes as riders behind dropped from the pack in ones and twos. But it was Vollering's day, as she launched clear with just under 2 km to go. Behind, only Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) and Fenix-Deceuninck's Yara Kastelijn could follow as a number of other contenders, including Canyon-SRAM's Kasia Niewiadoma, were dropped.
- Vollering accelerated again with roughly 800 meters to go and this time none could match the pace as she soloed up the final switchbacks to finish 28 seconds clear of Kastelijn and Longo Borghini.
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Brief analysis
- Perhaps no team has been more dogged by crashes at this Vuelta than Lidl-Trek. Things got off to a bad start in the opening team time trial when Ellen van Dijk went down hard and was forced to abandon the race two days later. Today, the team lost Realini at perhaps the worst possible moment. Realini's own GC hopes were likely already gone before today, but her crash on the descent off the first climb left Longo Borghini without one of the peloton's best climbers at a crucial moment. She ultimately finished seven minutes down, but her team posted on social media that Realini reported she is OK.
- The GC standings saw a significant re-shuffle, with every spot in the top 20 shifting. Vollering and SD Worx are now firmly in control of the race. Thanks to her gap and time bonuses, she's now 31 seconds clear of Longo Borghini and :53 up on Visma's Reijanne Markus, with stage four winner Kristen Faulkner (EF) dropping to fourth at 1:10. There's still a fair bit of climbing left in the Vuelta, including a second summit finish on Friday's stage 6. But Vollering – who looked a little off her usual superlative form earlier this spring – has clearly timed her first competitive peak to perfection. Amazingly, this is Vollering's first win of the season.
- Swinkels and Kastelijn showed exceptionally high levels as well. The UAE rider and QOM leader wasn't willing to sit back and wait, instead opting to go on the attack several times. She'll have a hard job to defend the mountains jersey against Vollering as stage 6 has just the final summit finish, but as she's almost nine minutes down on overall, a breakaway and stage win are clear options for Friday. Similarly, Kastelijn's penchant for aggressive racing could serve her well; although SD Worx will want to keep her on a shorter lead she's 3:10 down and climbing superbly right now.
Up next
Friday's stage 6 is a 132 km ride from Tarazona to Vineuesa. It starts with a gentle uncategorized climb that could help send breakaways up the road. But there's just one climb, the finish atop La Laguna Negra, a 6.5 km ascent averaging 6.7%. It could be a day for a late breakaway, or for Vollering to stamp her control on the race with a second win.
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