Vollering Seals Vuelta Femenina Title with Final-Kilometre Attack

With the 2025 Vuelta Femenina title hanging in the balance atop the gruelling 10km climb, Vollering bided her time behind a hard-pulling Anna van der Breggen before unleashing a trademark finishing blow.

“Anna was trying to drop us all by going hard and accelerating from time to time. I knew that I had a little something left, so I waited for the most difficult section coming into the finish to go for the victory,” Vollering explained after her winning ride.

It was a show of control and confidence from the Dutchwoman, who needed just 1km to crack her rivals and secure both the stage win and her second consecutive overall title at the Spanish Grand Tour.

Reusser and Van der Breggen round out GC podium

Vollering crossed the line in 4:23:34, 11 seconds ahead of Marlen Reusser (Movistar), who leapfrogged Van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) in the general classification to claim second overall. Van der Breggen took third on the day and GC, having done much of the heavy lifting on the final climb.

La Vuelta Femenina — The jersey winners: Demi Vollering (C), Marianne Vos (R) and Anna van der Breggen (L). © Profimedia

Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly), who was clinging to the favourites until Vollering’s attack, placed fourth both on the stage and overall.

“I didn’t want to risk the overall classification by simply focusing on the stage,” Vollering said. “To do both, I just had to wait, which wasn’t so easy because I really wanted to attack. But, finally, I managed to make the difference in the last kilometre.”

From breakaways to blowups

The stage’s early kilometres were relentless, with nearly 60km of racing before the first successful breakaway formed. Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) was joined by Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike) on the Colladona climb. De Vries eventually pressed on solo over the Colladiella, but her slender advantage dissolved on the slick descent as Evita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) and Mavi García (Liv AlUla Jayco) surged ahead.

That move gained up to 90 seconds but was halved by the time the peloton reached the decisive Cotobello ascent. García and Muzic were finally reeled in 8km from the top when Van der Breggen turned up the pressure.

Her searing pace carved the leading group down to the top four on GC. Vollering briefly tested her rivals at 1.5km to go, then landed the decisive blow a kilometre from the summit. Kerbaol was first to crack, and while Van der Breggen and Reusser chased, neither could match the race leader’s firepower.

FDJ-Suez dominate final rankings

FDJ-Suez’s dominance wasn’t limited to Vollering. Juliette Labous and Evita Muzic also cracked the final top 10, finishing fifth and tenth respectively. Vollering was full of praise for her squad’s consistency and strength:

“On the mountain stages we were so strong and always in control. I had really good legs and I’m very pleased with the performance of the whole team.”