Evita Muzic triumphed atop La Laguna Negra in stage 6
In an exciting rolling, hilly stage where wind played another factor today, Marinne Vos wins the 7th stage in La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour in a stage from San Esteban de Gormaz to Sigüenza over 138,6km. The former World Champion jumped over Kristen Faulkner and Elisa Longo Borghini in the final 50m to raise her arms in the air for victrory nr 253!
The stage’s profile was conducive to attacks, with rolling hills and an exciting punchy raising finish. As the race unfolded, several breakaway attempts dotted the early and middle parts of the stage, but none could sustain a lead against the well-coordinated chase from the main teams.
How the race unfolded
From the start attacks flew left and right out of the peloton. By the end of the first hour, a querter of the 122 strong peloton has made an attempt to go into the break. Small breaks were fastly neutralized by the peloton.
A breakaway of 7 riders finally getting the chance from the peloton. Laura Tomasi (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Anna Kiesenhofer (Roland), Yuliia Biriukova (Human Powered Health), Veronica Ewers (EF Education-Cannondale), Angela Oro (Bepink-Bongianni), Quinty Schoens (Volkerwessels) and Stina Kagevi (Coop-Repsol) getting around a minute from Visma | Lease a Bike, who control the peloton. Halfway the stage also this break is over.
One rider disagrees with this and attacks again. Olympic Champion anna Kiesenhofer goes solo and is soon joined by 8 other riders: Anya Louw (AG Insurance-Soudal), Laura Molenaar (Volkerwessels), Georgie Howe (Liv-AlUla-Jayco), Carolina Vargas (Eneicat-CM Team), Flora Perkins (Fenix-Deceuninck), Tota Magalhaes (Bepink-Bongioanni), Cristina Tonetti (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Silvia Zanardi (Human Powered Health)
And ofcourse Anna Kiesenhofer (Roland) are now leading the peloton with only 45km towards the finishline.
They make it to the intermediate sprint at the 40km mark but then its crosswinds. You can feel the nervousness in the peloton as riders try to position themselves to the upcoming echelons. And the peloton breaks into two large groups and a lot of scattered riders behind them. A large leading group of 30 riders, with Team SDWorx-Protime having 6 riders in it, is followed by a second group of 20 riders. The break is caught with 35km to go due to the really high pace in the peloton. The gap between the two groups is around a minute. Team Movistar has missed the cut, is in the xecond group and tries to close the gap, get close to 30 seconds but cannot play a role in the finale.
The final kilometer sees a short and punchy climb to the finishline. Kristen Faulkner from EF Education-Cannondale launched a daring solo attack in the final 300m. With only 300 meters remaining, she looked poised for a stage win. However, the sprinting uphill capabilities of Marianne Vos from Team Visma | Lease a Bike proved too strong, as she surged ahead in the final 50 meters to claim victory number 253. Kristen Faulkner finishes second and Elisa Longo Borghini third. Demi Vollering finishes 4th.
Vos’s victory was a textbook victory, marking her as a significant contender in the final green jersey competition. Meanwhile, Demi Vollering from SD Worx-Protime maintained her strong overall standing by finishing 4th and remains leader in the general classification with only one stage to go.
Final stage tomorrow
Tomorrow is the 8th and final stage from Distrito Telefónica Madrid to Valdesquí Communidad de Madrid over 89,5km. Don’t get fooled on the kilometers because tomorrow is a heavy duty stage with two climbs of the first category and the second and final climb as an mountain top finish.