On just her fourth race day as a fully fledged pro, 18-year-old Brit Imogen Wolff earned her first career victory, prevailing in the sprint on the final stage of the Vuelta a Extremadura.
The teenager won from a field containing Grand Tour stage winners, on a course that was reduced to 69.4km due to wet weather conditions.
Born in Yorkshire, Wolff joined Visma-Lease a Bike full-time this year from the British Cycling academy, and will ride with the Dutch squad until 2028.
"I am very happy with my first pro win. I didn't expect it to come so soon," she said in Spain. "The girls gave me full confidence to go for the day's win. When they ride so hard in front of you, you want to finish it. I'm happy that that worked out."
On Friday, Wolff placed third in stage two's bunch sprint – her first podium finish at pro level – but having come so close, described the result as "a bit of a bummer".
Determined to go further, she won the intermediate sprint on stage three, building confidence for the finale. "I knew if everything went well, I was able to win," she said.
"The final was similar to yesterday, with a corner 100m from the finish line. I knew I had to go into the corner first and I did. After that I was able to hold on until the line."
Wolff's Visma-Lease a Bike sports director, Jos van Emden, dubbed her a "killer" after the race.
"She always rides for the win and has the right instincts. With that, she makes our team stronger," Van Emden said.
The race was won overall by Lidl-Trek's Ellen Van Dijk, with Wolff taking the youth classification.
The teenager was awarded Cycling Weekly's rising star award in 2024, after she won the junior national time trial title and placed third at the UCI World Championships.
She was part of the same British Cycling academy cohort as Cat Ferguson, now of Movistar, who too has already tasted victory at pro level, also 18 years old.
Wolff's victory was not the only British success for Visma-Lease a Bike riders on Saturday. Riding for the team's development arm, 19-year-old Matthew Brennan, won the one-day Tour des 100 Communes in France. He is signed to the team's WorldTour squad for the next three years.
