Vollering takes thrilling final stage, van Vleuten clings on for Vuelta Femenina title

In a riveting finale to La Vuelta Femenina, Demi Vollering (SD Worx) and Gaia Realini (Trek-Segafredo) pushed World Road Champion Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) to her absolute limit in the final five kilometres of the seven-stage race.

World Champion Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) fought with everything she had to claim the overall victory at La Vuelta Femenina. Credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images

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Vollering produced a magnificent climbing performance on Lagos de Covadonga to claim the final stage 11 seconds ahead of Realini. Then, all eyes were on the clock to see whether van Vleuten could hold on to the overall title. Crossing the line in third place, 56 seconds behind Vollering, van Vleuten held onto the overall title by nine nervous seconds.

Vollering, who lost the red leader's jersey on the penultimate stage of La Veulta Femenina, once again showed the form has seen her reign supreme in the one-day Classics this season. She gave the race everything she had in the decisive, 94-kilometre Queen stage in Asturias which took riders over the Collado Moandi (Category Two climb) before the legendary Lagos de Covadonga (Hors Categorie climb).

Vollering systematically increased the pace and pressure with eight kilometres to go. Showing fatigue from the stages beforehand, van Vleuten could not follow Vollering's pace and went into damage control mode to hold on to the overall title.

In the final kilometre, Vollering dropped Realini with another powerful acceleration.

"I am very happy with this stage win," said Vollering.

"The whole team fought hard for this. We had to put something right after yesterday. I am happy that we took the stage win here. Two stage wins is a great result," she said.

"If things had gone differently yesterday, we might have won the general classification as well. It's a pity I couldn't battle with the best on Saturday, but today we straightened our backs. We showed what we are capable of. I am immensely proud of our fight today."

The overall victory is van Vleuten's fourth stage race title in 10 months. Her one-minute and 11-second gap from the day before provided just enough of a winning margin after a phenomenal exhibition towards the final finish line.

“I feel very tired, happy and super proud of my team,” said van Vleuten after the finish.

“In the end, I thought I was losing the race because I could feel that they had a little more than I had today, perhaps also because of yesterday’s effort. I felt it in my legs. I didn’t have the best day on a super-steep, hard climb like this.

“The rivals put me to the limit, they played it well. But I never gave up, I kept pushing until the end. At the finish line, I saw the happy faces of my team and I knew I made it. But I only knew when I crossed the finish line.“

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