There isn’t any doubt Demi Vollering is in prime place as she heads into the ultimate stage of La Vuelta Femenina, with the crimson chief’s jersey on her again, a transparent reduce margin to second and a strong SD Worx-Protime crew in full power to help her by a summit finale that performs to her strengths. Nonetheless the Dutch rider has learnt the onerous means that crimson can slip away within the most sudden of how so she is unlikely to let her guard down, significantly as second-placed Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) is exhibiting no indicators of an early concession.
The chances are undoubtedly stacked in opposition to a ultimate stage coup by the Italian champion, who’s the one rider inside a minute of Vollering on the general and has a crash diminished crew with which to shut the hole. Nonetheless, on Saturday’s crosswind cut up stage 7, the Lidl-Trek squad of 5 continued to journey aggressively.
The consequence was a 3rd place on the stage for Longo Borghini, which can solely have shaved just a few seconds from the substantial 56 second deficit to Vollering, however demonstrated that the rider and crew will not be all in favour of pulling their punches.
“The women did an important job overlaying strikes and attempting to assault themselves,” mentioned Longo Borghini, who then tried her personal within the ultimate few hundred metres of the uphill finale.
“I attempted to observe Faulkner, then I attempted to move her. I attempted to go onerous from 300m. I knew it was a bit removed from the end line however I needed to make it onerous, and ultimately it’s a very good third place,” mentioned Longo Borghini, who completed simply behind second-placed Kristen Faulkner [EF Training-Cannondale) after Marianne Vos surged previous each of them to say the stage victory.
An attentive Vollering got here throughout the road simply behind Longo Borghini in fourth, so whereas the Italian challenger did acquire some GC floor, securing a 4 second bonus for the third place, there was no further time hole.
Vollering is now coming into the ultimate stage with a margin of 52 seconds to her nearest rival on the general and the one different riders inside two minutes are Riejanne Markus (Visma-Lease a Bike), who’s again 1:14, and Juliette Labous (dsm firmenich-Publish NL) at 1:48. The remainder of the highest ten is then greater than two minutes again, with Vollering’s teammate Niamh Fisher-Black fifth, Évita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) sixth, Faulkner seventh after which it’s one other SD Worx-Protime rider in eighth, Marlen Reusser. Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon-SRAM) and Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) spherical out the highest ten, with Kastelijn at 4:07.
With only one stage to go that leaves Vollering – who got here second to retired three-time winner Annemiek van Vleuten in 2023 – dealing with the ultimate 89km of racing in a strong place, significantly given her crew power and the terrain. Sunday’s stage 7 consists of two class one climbs, the final to Valdesquí Madrid delivering a mean gradient of 4.8% over 12.8 kilometres.
“I believe the stage fits me properly. I haven’t regarded into the small print as of but, however will probably be a tough stage and that’s good for me,” mentioned Vollering who got here first on the summit end on stage 5, with Kastelijn and Longo Borghini becoming a member of her on the rostrum, whereas 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 believe Yara Kastelijn has already proven how robust she is, as did Évita Muzic yesterday,” mentioned Vollering on Saturday as she continued to look forward to Sunday’s stage 8. “And you’ll by no means underestimate Elisa Longo Borghini – she is all the time harmful!”
