Demi Vollering defended her La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es title without a challenge on Saturday. The FDJ-Suez rider won the final stage, riding into the clouds atop Alto de Cotobello after attacking her rivals in the final 600 metres.
Marlen Reusser (Movistar) was next to cross the line, 11 seconds behind Vollering, enough to move into second overall ahead of Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), who finished a further 14 seconds down but retained the final spot on the overall podium.
[race_result id=9058 stage_id=87614 count=10 gc=0 year=2025]
Overall GC
[race_result id=9058 stage_id=87614 count=10 gc=10 year=2025]
How it happened
- The start of the stage was hectic, with many riders from smaller teams trying to get away from the peloton. At one point, Lea Lin Teutenberg (Lotto), who has been on the attack during most of the stages, got up the road with four other riders.
- For a while, there weren't attacks, per se, but multiple splits in the peloton that, for the most part, came back together as the road undulated. Canyon-SRAM Zondacrypto's Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka spent some time solo ahead of the peloton and was joined by Romy Kasper (Human Powered Health) and Visma-Lease a Bike's Femke de Vries, but the three were caught as their breakaway splintered and the climbers took charge of Alto de la Colladiella, the second categorised climb.
- As the climb progressed, Van der Breggen put some pressure on the remaining riders and was able to distance Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM Zondacrypto) and Riejanne Markus (Lidl-Trek). The two GC favourites would regain contact with the peloton after the descent, but the Dutchwoman's pace showed who would be featuring on the final climb and who wasn't a threat.
- With 32 km to go, Liv AlUla Jayco's Mavi García countered a failed move by her teammate Monica Trinca Colonel, and was soon joined by Vollering's teammate Évita Muzic. As they approached the final ascent of the week, their advantage over the peloton was over a minute.
- The pace in the group behind was slow enough that several riders regained contact with their climbers, and as they started the final 10 km, the gap dropped to only 35 seconds.
Liv AlUla Jayco's Mavi García with Évita Muzic on her wheel, the French rider wearing the striking mountains classification jersey on Demi Vollering's behalf.
- For the final ascent, the women were treated to very wet conditions as the rain started to fall. Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) led the peloton on the early slopes of the climb, shedding riders and bringing the two out front down to a seven-second advantage.
- Once Bredewold pulled off the front, Van der Breggen took over. She was marked closely by Vollering, who was marked by Reusser.
- With 3 km to go, Van der Breggen had successfully dropped everyone but Vollering, Reusser, and Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) by setting a steady but brutal pace. Vollering didn't attack until the final 1.4 km, but her first move wasn't enough to distance the other three.
- The Dutch duo of Van der Breggen and Vollering then distanced Kerbaol in the final kilometre, and soon after the EF Education-Oatly rider was dropped, Vollering rode away from Reusser and Van der Breggen.
- As she crossed the line for her second stage win of the week, Vollering held up two fingers for her second La Vuelta title in as many years.
- Reusser, who started the day in third overall, a second behind Van der Breggen, passed her former director to take second overall.
Quote of the day
Vollering took no prisoners during this Vuelta. She won both mountain stages, the overall and the Mountains Classification, but she didn't do it alone. Her team was incredible, she said so herself.
I'm really happy that I could win both mountain stages, and my team was again so strong, and we were always in control. I am really happy about the whole performance with the whole team.
She also spoke about Van der Breggen and her attempt to drop Vollering and Reusser on the climb by simply riding them off her wheel, a tactic that did not work.
She was trying to drop us with a hard speed and I knew I had still something left, so I was waiting for the last steep part to try an attack and go for the win. I didn't have to risk anything today, I just wanted to win the stage again. I needed to wait, and it was not easy because I really wanted to go.
What's next
The three-stage Itzulia Women starts May 16, so a pretty quick turnaround before the next WWT stage race. Last year, after winning La Vuelta, Vollering then took the overall victory at Itzulia as well. This year, perhaps FDJ-Suez will pass leadership to Labous, based on her current form? For a full race preview by the one and only Georgie Howe, tune into the Wheel Talk newsletter on Tuesday.
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