Category: La Vuelta Femenina

Demi Vollering has won the 2024 La Vuelta Fememina in style following a dominant victory on Stage 8.

Having come into the final stage of the race leading the General Classification, the SD Worx–Protime rider showed no nerves as she navigated the final summit. After she made a move in the final 6km, Vollering powered to the line for a solo victory which confirmed the return of her stage racing form.

This year’s La Vuelta Femenina crowned six different stage winners. On stage one, Gaia Realini (Lidl – Trek) was crowned the first winner of the 2024 edition after the team time trial.

The following day, Alison Jackson (EF Education-Cannondale) took the team’s first of two stage victories in a strong sprint before Kristen Faulkner added their second as she stormed to a solo win on stage four.

Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) was victorious in stage three and stage seven, the second of which saw her become the first woman to win four La Vuelta Femenina stages having won on two consecutive days in the 2023 edition. Her stage three triumph marked her 252nd career win, 18 years to the day since her first, before she added her 253rd four days later.

Évita Muzic (FDJ – SUEZ) out-sprinted Vollering on stage six, adding a Vuelta stage win to her Giro d’Italia stage nine victory in 2020 alongside the further three career wins in her palmarès to date.

Vollering soared to her first victory of the year on stage five to take the lead in the general classification, which she retained for the remainder of the Vuelta and completed in style with her stage eight solo victory.

Having finished second in all three classifications in 2023, Vollering additionally took the Queen of the Mountains jersey in 2024 alongside the general classification, which was sealed with points gained in her stage eight summit win.

Vos won the points classification for the second year in a row, and Vollering’s second place made it the same top-two finish as the year before. An impressive Vuelta from Vos’s Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Riejanne Markus saw her take second in the general classification and third in the points classification; an improvement from fifth in 2023.

The live pictures started with a 13-rider breakaway holding a lead of over a minute on the peloton with 45km to go, but multiple riders were dropped as the pressure increased.

Queen of the Mountains leader going into the stage, Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ), was the rider who managed to stay clear for the longest time out of those involved in the initial breakaway, but she too was caught just before the summit of the first climb as Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) bridged the gap.

Rooijakkers’ attack saw her go clear from the chase group and surpass Swinkels to create a gap of her own, but she too was caught 1km before the summit.

With the front group now back together, it was Muzic who took the maximum points on the first categorised climb of Puerto de la Morcuera, followed by Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck), Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon//SRAM Racing), Vollering, and Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon//SRAM Racing).

After taking fifth on the climb, Bauernfeind distanced the bunch on the descent but Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) led the chase to close her down.

Swinkels attacked with 19km left ahead of her, no doubt hoping to retain her QoM jersey with her eyes on the points at the summit of the final climb. She remained ahead to pass the intermediate sprint solo, and worked up a gap of over a minute in the kilometres which followed.

Grace Brown (FDJ-SUEZ) who had a spectacular La Vuelta Femenina 2024, led the group to catch the solo rider with 9.2km remaining, and kept the pace at the front of the race as they went into the final 7km.

Vollering moved to the front to take over from Brown in the final 6.5km, but staged her final punishing attack with 5.8km left.

Having dropped the few riders who had managed to stay with her, the Dutch national champion and Tour de France 2023 winner powered up the road and stayed clear for the remainder of the race.

As the road flattened out she flew towards the finish line in Valdesqui after the climb named in memoriam for young Spanish rider Estela Domínguez who was tragically killed in 2023.

Vollering took the Queen stage and with it was crowned as the 2024 La Vuelta Femenina champion with a solo victory which gave her time to celebrate with the crowd before she held up her bike after she crossed the finish line.

Muzic followed in second 29” later before Markus’s third-place finish moved her up to second in the general classification.

Rooijakkers, Bauernfeind, and Labous finished fourth, fifth, and sixth before Longo Borghini, Niedermaier, Kastelijn, and Kim Cadzow (EF Education-Cannondale) completed the final-stage top ten in the 2024 La Vuelta Femenina.

Evita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) put in a heroic display to hold off Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) and sprint to victory on Stage 6 of La Vuelta Femenina.

The Frenchwoman stuck close to Vollering on the final climb and timed her attack with 75 metres to go to hit the front and take the win.

It was the 24-year-old’s fifth career victory, which now sits neatly in her palmarès alongside her Giro d’Italia final stage victory from 2020.

Vollering successfully defended her lead in the general classification with her second-place finish keeping Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) 56 seconds behind in the race for the red jersey.

Marianne Vos (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) added to her lead in the points classification with maximum points in the day’s intermediate sprint to go into stage seven 37 points ahead of Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime).

Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) also retained her Queen of the Mountains jersey, but is now tied on points with general classification leader Vollering.

Before the start of the stage, Lidl-Trek’s Gaia Realini withdrew due to “minor concussion” as well as pain in her elbow and chest from a crash the day before. In addition, Canyon//SRAM’s Kasia Niewiadoma also didn’t start due to illness.

During the stage, a crash in the 63rd kilometre forced Aniek van Alphen (Fenix-Deceuninck) to abandon the race after a bottle caught her back wheel in her approach to the feed zone which resulted in a crash.

Multiple attacks from within the peloton kick-started the action on stage six of La Vuelta Femenina, but it was an attack from Claudia San Justo (Eneicat – CMTeam) and Laura Molenaar (VolkerWessels Women’s Pro Cycling Team) which sparked the lengthiest breakaway of the day with 85km to go.

They were joined by Fauve Bastiaenssen (Lotto Dstny Ladies) a couple of kilometres later before their ranks increased to four with the addition of Aurela Nerlo (Winspace). The four remained as a breakaway group for much of the race before they were dispersed with just under 20km left ahead.

San Justo and Nerlo were the first to be absorbed by the peloton but Bastiaenssen and Molenaar were determined to stay ahead for as long as possible. The two battled with each other as well as the rapidly approaching peloton and played cat and mouse before a last-ditch attack from Bastiaenssen saw her survive the longest as Molenaar was the next to rejoin the bunch.

With Bastiaenssen caught with 17.7km to go, focus then turned to the intermediate sprint and the final climb. After Vos took maximum points in the sprint to retain her green jersey, the remaining points were earned by Elena Cecchini (SD Worx – Protime), Brodie Chapman (Lidl-Trek), Riejanne Markus (Visma-Lease a Bike), and Juliette Labous (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL).

Lidl-Trek led the peloton as the Fenix-Deceuninck, UAE Team ADQ, FDJ-SUEZ, and Movistar also began to line themselves up at the front of the race. The teams at the head of the race switched with EF Education-Cannondale, led by stage two winner Alison Jackson, and Visma-Lease a Bike, fronted by stage three winner Vos. Both worked in domestique roles for their teams and as with others working in the same capacity for their stage win hopefuls dropped off when their work was completed.

With 6km left in the race Muzic’s FDJ-SUEZ teammate Grace Brown took control at the front of the race, a role she had also performed valiantly in the stage prior, to up the intensity and begin to thin out the group. The Australian’s pace dropped multiple riders before Vollering took over at the front with 3.8km to go.

As she did in stage five, Vollering’s powerful climb also successfully dropped more riders from the group, but she kept SD Worx – Protime teammates Marlen Reusser and Niamh Fisher-Black with her to ballast her hopes of a second successive summit victory.

Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck), who had finished the day before, and Longo Borghini, who took third place in stage five, remained close behind Vollering in scenes reminiscent of those in the previous stage before Reusser took over to provide some respite for Vollering.

Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) attacked within the final two kilometres to force a reaction from Vollering, who closed her fellow countrywoman down quickly to return to the front of the race.

Another attack, this time from Kastelijn, was also rapidly diffused by the general classification leader who then led the group through the Flamme Rouge.

A seated acceleration, not dissimilar to the one that had catapulted her into the leader’s jersey the day prior, created a cap for Vollering with just under 700m remaining, but Muzic was determined to stay with her.

The Frenchwoman did just that and sat in second wheel while she waited for the perfect moment to attack as the two went clear from those behind them. With 75 metres until the summit finish at La Laguna Negra she pushed forward and went out of the saddle as she overtook the Tour de France Femmes 2023 winner to take the victory by two seconds.

Kastelijn added another impressive podium finish at La Vuelta Femenina as she crossed the line 15 seconds later in third, followed by Markus and Longo Borghini to make up the top five.

Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon//SRAM Racing) finished sixth before Labous, Rooijakkers, Fisher-Black, and Kim Cadzow (EF Education-Cannondale) completed the top ten.

Stage seven of La Vuelta Femenina will cover 138.6km from San Esteban de Gormaz – Sigüenza. This flatter stage in comparison to stage six will ramp up in the final 500m reaching a 10% gradient at one point, and looks to be one for powerful riders such as Vos.

Kristen Faulkner won EF Education-Cannondale’s second stage of the Vuelta with a brilliant last gasp solo effort on a stage that had all the hallmarks of a sprint finish.

The American was one of 19 riders to get away early on, the group littered with talent and names. But with 6KM to go on a tiny ramp, Faulkner launched an opportunistic attack that no one could live with.

The rest came together for a sprint finish for second, with Georgia Baker (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) grabbing P2 from Marianne Vos (Visma Lease a Bike), the Dutchwoman now the overall leader thanks to her third-place finish and bonus seconds gathered at the intermediate sprint.

Vos now leads Blanka Vas (SD Worx) by five seconds in the GC standings.

A flat stage but a wind swept one with echelons likely to form – the ingredients were there for nervous riders, frantic moves and plenty of drama right from the start.

That’s exactly what happened early on, with several breaks being reeled swiftly in before a group of 19 riders got away, including six from SD Worx – Demi Vollering one of them. Also in that group was Vos and Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), but her team mate, the early red jersey wearer from Stage 1 Gaia Realini didn’t make it, which led to Lidl-Trek pulling hard at the front of the chase group.

With the kilometres ticking down, that front group were still staying away – no surprise given it was laced with talent, Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM), Georgia Baker (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) and Alison Jackson (EF Education-Cannondale) also present.

Even a brief smattering of rain with 50KM to go didn’t derail their progress, with the lead always hovering around just under the two minute mark.

There was a shock with 42KM to go as Vas dropped out of the front group, seemingly struggling with her legs. She did manage to catch back up, a bad back reportedly causing her some difficulties today. After that, it was all calm with the chase group soon realising that they were not getting back to the leaders today despite a heroic effort from Lizzie Deignan (Lidl-Trek) on the front.

The real action began at the intermediate sprint, with 12KM to go. Vos was led out and launched herself to grab six bonus seconds, Vas getting four and Longo Borghini two seconds. That put the Dutchwoman into the virtual red jersey.

There was one late kick in what was a relatively benign stage – a short, steep hill 6KM from the finish. And Faulkner used that to attack, immediately countering an attack from Vollering before launching alone. She managed to create an immediate gap, putting her head down and driving on.

Behind, Vollering, Longo Borghini, Niewiadoma and Vas couldn’t reel her in and instead were collected by the remnants of that original group, that lot coming together just before the line to sprint for the podium places.

“We came to try and win some stages and we’ve already won two, so we are so excited and proud of what we have accomplished so far,” Faulkner said afterwards.

“Fortunately Alison [Jackson] and I were in a good position and able to make the front group, it was a good day. I knew I wanted to do a last-minute attack, I knew that climb would be the place for other attacks so I thought I’d try and follow one. I just hopped onto wheels – it was a bit of luck but also planning I think.”

Tomorrow sees the race head for the mountains, which is sure to lead to a shake up of the general classification places.