Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) won stage 5 of the Vuelta Femenina, in the first of three summit finishes of the stage race. Vollering battled with Yara Kastelijn (Credishop-Fristads) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) in the final steep climb, but broke away with around 1,000 meters to go. Vollering was all alone at the line, 28 seconds ahead of Kastelijn and Longo Borghini. This was Vollering’s first win of 2024 and she has taken over the lead of the GC.
Unless she gets into major difficulty today she will surely take it on the final stage. This stage wasn’t remotely close!
I agree, as long as she stays safe, she has to be the odds-on favorite. Niewiadoma doesn’t appear at the top of her game this week. Yara Kastelijn is too close on GC for SD Worx to give her any advantage before the climb. The only other rider that I think could have challenged her was Gaia Realiini, but she’s had to withdraw after yesterday’s crash. (The after-math looked really bad, I was concerned to even see her get back on the bike and I can’t believe she finished the stage.)