Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) sealed a dominant overall win at the Vuelta Femenina with a comprehensive victory on the final mountain stage to the summit of the Valdesquí ski resort.
The race leader attacked with 6.5km to go and immediately put all of her rivals in difficulty before soloing clear to take her second stage win of the race, with both coming at summit finishes.
The Dutch rider held her lead all the way to the finish to win alone and seal the first Grand Tour of the 2024 season.
Évita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ) finished second on the stage, 29 seconds down, with Riejanne Markus (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) crossing the line four seconds later.
Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) came into the stage sitting second overall but was dropped as soon as Vollering put the hammer down. The Italian was put into the red and despite battling back through the final stages of the race she was unable to hang onto second overall, slipping to third at two minutes back, with Markus’ consistency rewarded with second overall at 1:49.
The final climb to the ski resort was an epic battle between the best GC riders in the world with FDJ-SUEZ gunning for another stage win in the race and a possible podium spot for Muzic. Grace Brown was pivotal in the French squad’s tactics as she set a furious pace on both of the day’s climbs and she whittled down the front group to just a dozen or so riders.
However when Vollering accelerated Muzic and Markus were the only riders able to truly follow and they too were distanced due to the relentless pace of the SD Worx-Protime rider.
“It’s really nice, the team did a really good job the whole day. I was a bit nervous, because this last climb, I thought it wasn’t so super hard. It’s difficult because of the headwind and it’s not super steep," Vollering said at the finish.
“There was one part where we turned a bit and went in the back so there I thought I need to attack, and I need to make sure I have a gap so the rest will have a headwind to chase me back. I could extend my gap and stay out so I’m really happy to win this stage. It’s really nice to finish it off like this. We did a really good tour here, some podiums and two stage wins, so I think we can be very proud of ourselves.”
Undisputable! No one can climb like her right now
The only rider I thought would give Vollering some competition was Gaia Realini, and she was out after that very nasty crash. (She really should have gone through the concussion protocol, I thought, she couldn’t even walk straight before she got back on the bike.)
And I guess we might need to start including Evita Muzic in the conversation, she didn’t put out the same watts as Vollering on La Laguna Negra climb, per the analysis from Lanterne Rouge, since Vollering was leading it out, but it was still a pretty impressive performance. I’m definitely excited to see who will step up for the Grand-Bornand and Alp d’Huez stages of the Tour de France Femmes this year.
You’re right, realini was giving great craic at the start, one to keep an eye on for sure