The fifth stage in this Vuelta Femenina was the first big test for the classification riders, as the peloton entered the Pyrenees. Marianne Vos started the stage as leader, but if logic were to be respected, she would have had to pass on the final climb today (3.4 kilometers at 7.9%) and would have lost her red leader’s jersey. The top ten in the rankings were within half a minute of the Dutch.
Only halfway through the stage did we get an attack from the peloton, but Lourdes Oyarbide’s attempt was doomed to failure without support. Due to the high pace of FDJ-Suez, she was already overtaken at forty kilometers from the finish. On the penultimate climb of the day, Blanka Vas, second in the general classification, already had a hard time. A bad sign for what was yet to come. The stage also did not go as planned for Gaia Realini, because she crashed on the descent. She was not in a bad mood, but after losing time on Wednesday, a second day in a row of bad news for the 22-year-old Italian.
In the descent towards the final climb, an elite group also broke away from the peloton. Vos, Vollering and Longo Borghini, among others, were alert, but the attack was quickly canceled out. Karlijn Swinkels tried to anticipate, but when she turned up the final climb she was already overtaken. The classification women were able to show on the steep final climb who had the best climbing legs. As expected, it was not Vos: the Dutch woman had to pass quickly and would lose her leader’s jersey.
Two kilometers from the end, top favorite Vollering took control. Only Longo Borghini and Yara Kastelijn could follow the Dutch favorite. When entering the last kilometer, Vollering went one step further, a step too much for Longo Borghini and Kastelijn. Vollering was loose and rode to her first victory of the season. As icing on the cake, she also takes over the red leader’s jersey from Vos. Yara Kastelijn finished second, Longo Borghini finished third in the wheel of the Dutch.
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Rash:
1. Demi Vollering
2. Yara Kastelijn +28”
3. Elisa Longo Borghini +28”
4. Évita Muzic +39”
5. Sarah Gigante +41”
6. Ricarda Bauernfeind +44”
7. Riejanne Markus +44”
8. Juliette Labous +47”
9. Kim Cadzow +57”
10. Pauliena Rooijakkers +1’08”
© Getty Images
