Demi Vollering moved into the leader’s red jersey after she won Stage 5 of La Vuelta Femenina.
The SD Worx rider made her move from a select group that also contained Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) with 2km to go of the Cat. 2 Mirador de Peñas Llanas, leaving van Vleuten and Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon//SRAM Racing) in her wake.
Marianne Vos of Team Jumbo-Visma came into Stage 5 leading the general classification but finished 26th on the day, some 2’17” in arrears of Vollering, who assumes the leader’s jersey. Vos dropped out of the top 10 following the stage.
Vollering holds a three-second lead over Van Vleuten in the GC ahead of Stage 6.
The action started with an early breakaway group formed by Simone Boilard, Quinty Ton, Adèle Normand, Susana Perez, Sara Poidevin, and Isabel Martin. Meanwhile, maillot rojo wearer Vos was dropped from the peloton and found herself in a group containing Liane Lippert and most of her Movistar teammates, and British rider who finished sixth in stage four, Lizzie Deignan.
A front group soon formed, containing the likes of Van Vleuten, Team SD Worx’s Niamh Fisher-Black, Marlen Reusser, and Vollering,Trek-Segafredo’s Gaia Realini and Amanda Spratt, Canyon//SRAM’S Bauernfeind, Elise Chabbey and Chloe Dygert, and Spanish national champion Mavi García.
When the front group approached the summit of Puerto de Navafría, Chabbey once again took the maximum queen of the mountain points available. Cavalli crossed second, and Reusser took third, before stage winner Vollering finished just outside the time bonus placing in fourth. The group powered on, and at this point had a lead of around three minutes and 30 seconds on the group containing Vos. At the same time, a chasing group of Kasia Niewiadoma, Silvia Persico, and Elise Uijenhad a time gap of 30 seconds behind the lead riders.
As the kilometres ticked down to under the 50km to go mark, the chasing three had bridged the gap and were now part of the front group. Canyon//SRAM then had an abundance of riders credit to Niewiadoma’s arrival moving their numbers up to four, as did UAE Team ADQ when they were joined by Persico. While them and the likes of FDJ-SUEZ and Team SD Worx were comfortable with around three or four riders in the front group, van Vleuten and Markus remained the only two riders from Movistar and Jumbo-Visma respectively. Soon after, Pauliena Rooijakkers furthered the strength of her Canyon//SRAM team in the leading group.
Disaster then struck for Fisher-Black who was involved in a crash when she reached for a bottle from Vollering. Ane Santesteban of Team Jayco AlUla also went down, and with the both of them requiring a bike change, she was the quicker of the two to get on her away back up the road. It really wasn’t Fisher-Black’s day as in the time it had taken her to get back in the saddle, the team cars had formed a barrage around thirty seconds behind the front group, meaning she faced much difficulty in her efforts to return to her team mates ahead.
She was visibly frustrated and shook her head but she was soon caught by the group which contained Vos. She found solace in teammate Vollering at the end of the race, but it was certainly a tough day for the young rider with the circumstances she was faced with after her crash, especially as she had been riding well in the front group up until the crash.
The gap between the group Fisher-Black found herself in and the front group incrementally fluctuated as Movistar pulled them forward for many of the remaining kilometres in an effort to not only support Lippert, but also to potentially reach their solo teammate Van Vleuten who remained alone in the front group. Chloe Dygert (Canyon//SRAM) did the same at the front of the leading group.
As the remaining kilometres dropped to below 20, the gap between the two groups continued to fall. At 14 kilometres until the finish line, the efforts of those in group two, in particular Movistar and Hungarian national champion Blanka Vas (Team SD Worx), pulled the gap to within a minute.
The intermediate sprint points were in sight with five kilometres until the finish line, and were ultimately earned by R Markus, with Dygert second, and Elise Uijen (Team DSM) third. Uijen had worked well on the front of the group only minutes prior so had put in a strong effort to earn herself some sprint points.
When the climb up to the summit at Mirador de Peñas Llanas began, Esmée Peperkamp (Team DSM) dug in and staged an attack, but was soon caught by Persico before they rejoined the group. Markus worked well at the front of the leading group, before Realini took over and provided a strong climb towards the summit. At the same time, Niewiadoma was dropped, and she was soon to be joined by Dygert and Spratt.
Vollering took over, but Realini fought back and upped the pressure. When they reached the flamme rouge it was Vollering in the lead, with Van Vleuten in second wheel with Bauernfeind behind her. Vollering remained in front, but Van Vleuten showed her classic strength that she displayed throughout last season with 400 metres remaining.
Vollering then kicked on out of the saddle before she made a seated effort to create a gap between her and van Vleuten. She gave a final effort out of the saddle before she was able to enjoy a clear victory while seated. Van Vleuten came in second, with a strong effort reminiscent of her performances last year, before Bauernfeind took a well deserved third after an impressive climb.
Vollering finished the day in the maillot rojo ahead of Van Vleuten as Vos dropped out of the general classification top ten. Despite finishing 26th today, yesterday’s stage winner Vos does however retain the green points jersey while Chabbey holds on to the QOM. Santesteban was awarded the combativity jersey.
Tomorrow’s stage sees the riders tackle a further two categorised climbs, both category two, as they journey the 106.1km from Castro-Urdiales to Laredo.
