Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) won the 2024 La Vuelta Femenina in style, winning the final stage solo in the red leader's jersey.
The 27-year-old Dutchwoman attacked 6.5km from the finish at the Valdesquí resort and quickly went solo.
Vollering raised her right arm as she crossed the line, then lifted her bike in triumph.
29 seconds later, Évita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ) finished second, Riejanne Markus (Visma-Lease a Bike) was third at 33 seconds, snatching the overall runner-up spot from Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) after the Italian struggled and finished seventh at 1:00.
"I’m really happy to win this stage because it’s really nice to finish it off like this, we did a really good Vuelta, some podiums and two stage wins, so I think we can be very proud of ourselves,” Vollering said.
“I was a bit nervous because this last climb was difficult because there was headwind and it was not super-steep. There was one part where we turned a bit and had tailwind, there I thought: ‘I need to attack and I need to make sure I have a gap’ so that the rest also will have headwind when chasing me back. I could extend my gap and stay out."
Having gone into the Vuelta after a winless spring campaign, Vollering is now looking to the stage races to come.
“It is a good start, I hope I can do some other really nice stage races of course, and I am looking really much forward to the rest of the season,” she said.
How it unfolded
The final stage of the 2024 La Vuelta Femenina started in Madrid at the headquarters of Telefónica, the main sponsor of the Movistar team.
It was short and spicy at 89.5km with two climbs, the first-category Puerto de La Morcuera and the climb to the finish at Valdesquí, designated the Cima Estela Domínguez, named for a Spanish junior rider killed in a training accident in early 2023.
25km into the race, a breakaway of 13 riders formed that had a maximum advantage of 1:38 minutes. On the Puerto de La Morcuera, 40 km from the finish, Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) attacked from the break, and only Brodie Chapman (Lidl-Trek) and polka-dot jersey Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) could follow her.
Swinkels had to let go soon after, though, and then Chapman also dropped Gigante. The peloton was only 25 seconds behind, and Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) bridged to Chapman before going solo.
Grace Brown (FDJ-SUEZ) led the peloton that had been reduced to about 20 riders by now and closed the gap to Rooijakkers, and her teammate Évita Muzic was first over the top of the climb, temporarily taking the lead in the mountain classification.
On the descent, Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx-Protime) overshot a corner and briefly balanced on the guardrail before getting back on the road. Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM) had used her descending skills to open a gap that was closed in the valley, and with 19 km to go, Swinkels went on the offensive again, trying to get a headstart on the GC riders.
The polka-dot jersey was 1:10 minutes ahead at the start of the climb with 12.8km to go but Brown set a high pace behind and caught Swinkels 9.2km from the finish.
The Australian continued to ride hard until Vollering attacked with 6.5km to go, splitting the group into small groups and quickly going solo.
Behind Vollering, a fight developed for the overall runner-up spot as Markus led a group that was 15 seconds ahead of Longo Borghini with 4km to go. The Italian champion had a 22-second advantage on Markus going into the stage, and the almost-flat last 2.5km turned into a close, all effort pursuit match.
Vollering had time to celebrate her stage victory and overall victory with the crowd but the fight for the podium was much closer.
Muzic sprinted away from Markus to take second place, but the Dutchwoman finished third to take four bonus seconds, and when Longo Borghini finished a minute behind Vollering, Markus moved up to second overall by 11 seconds.
Vollering also won the polka-dot jersey while Marianne Vos took the green points jersey. Niedermaier, finishing 11th overall, was the best U23 rider.
Results
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