There is not any doubt Demi Vollering is in top place as she heads into the general degree of Los angeles Vuelta Femenina, with the pink chief’s jersey on her again, a transparent lower margin to moment and a strong SD Worx-Protime staff in complete pressure to improve her via a summit finale that performs to her strengths. Nonetheless the Dutch rider has learnt the arduous manner that pink can slip away within the maximum surprising of the way so she is not likely to let her guard down, in particular as second-placed Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) is appearing no indicators of an early concession.
The percentages are certainly stacked towards a last degree coup through the Italian champion, who’s the one rider inside a minute of Vollering at the total and has a crash decreased staff with which to near the distance. Nonetheless, on Saturday’s crosswind cut up degree 7, the Lidl-Trek squad of 5 endured to trip aggressively.
The end result was once a 3rd position at the degree for Longo Borghini, which might best have shaved a couple of seconds from the really extensive 56 moment deficit to Vollering, however demonstrated that the rider and staff aren’t excited about pulling their punches.
“The women did a super process protecting strikes and looking to assault themselves,” mentioned Longo Borghini, who then attempted her personal within the ultimate few hundred metres of the uphill finale.
“I attempted to practice Faulkner, then I attempted to go her. I attempted to move arduous from 300m. I knew it was once a bit of a ways from the end line however I needed to make it arduous, and in any case it’s a just right 3rd position,” mentioned Longo Borghini, who completed simply at the back of second-placed Kristen Faulkner [EF Education-Cannondale) after Marianne Vos surged past both of them to claim the stage victory.
An attentive Vollering came across the line just behind Longo Borghini in fourth, so while the Italian challenger did gain some GC ground, securing a four second bonus for the third place, there was no additional time gap.
Vollering is now entering the final stage with a margin of 52 seconds to her nearest rival on the overall and the only other riders within two minutes are Riejanne Markus (Visma-Lease a Bike), who is back 1:14, and Juliette Labous (dsm firmenich-Post NL) at 1:48. The rest of the top ten is then more than two minutes back, with Vollering’s teammate Niamh Fisher-Black fifth, Évita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) sixth, Faulkner seventh and then it is another SD Worx-Protime rider in eighth, Marlen Reusser. Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon-SRAM) and Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) round out the top ten, with Kastelijn at 4:07.
With just one stage to go that leaves Vollering – who came second to retired three-time winner Annemiek van Vleuten in 2023 – facing the final 89km of racing in a powerful position, particularly given her team strength and the terrain. Sunday’s stage 7 includes two category one climbs, the last to Valdesquí Madrid delivering an average gradient of 4.8% over 12.8 kilometres.
“I think the stage suits me well. I haven’t looked into the details as of yet, but it will be a hard stage and that’s nice for me,” said Vollering who came first on the summit finish on stage 5, with Kastelijn and Longo Borghini joining her on the podium, while on stage 6 Vollering was in second behind Muzic, with Kastelijn third and closest GC rival Longo Borghini in fifth.
“As for challengers to look out for, I think Yara Kastelijn has already shown how strong she is, as did Évita Muzic yesterday,” said Vollering on Saturday as she continued to look ahead to Sunday’s stage 8. “And you can never underestimate Elisa Longo Borghini – she is always dangerous!”
