Demi Vollering soloed to an emotional victory at the summit of Lagunas de Neilas on stage five of La Vuelta Femenina, taking over the overall lead in the process from Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime).
Vollering launched a stinging attack on the steep final climb, with Marlen Reusser the only other rider able to initially attempt to respond. The reigning Vuelta champion pushed on, showing no sign of relenting as the climb continued, and went on to take her 48th career win ahead of Reusser and Van der Breggen by a margin of almost a minute to the latter.
Vollering pointed to her head as she crossed the finish line to celebrate the win, replicating a previous celebration after she had won a stage of the Tour de France Femmes. Speaking afterwards in a tearful interview, she explained that the gesture had been to highlight what she described as the continued lack of mental health awareness in society.
"I feel good, I’m really happy to win this stage and I'm very proud of the work we did as a team," she said. "Someone close to me is going through a really hard time mentally, and today I had to do everything I could because mentally I know I’m very very strong.
"Because of my mentality I can win beautiful, beautiful races. But some people, their mentality and their brain is a bit too strong in the other direction and they struggle with their mental health."
She continued: "It is still such an unknown problem in this world, so today my win was a sacrifice for all the people out there who are finding it really hard mentally at the moment."
Vollering now leads the race by 45 seconds ahead of Van der Breggen, with Reusser a single second back in third.
How it happened
Stage five of La Vuelta Femenina was another mountainous affair with the riders facing the challenge of a testing summit finish on the slopes of the Lagunas de Neila climb. Two climbs featured in the 120 kilometres of action, with the category two ascent of the Alto de Rozavientos coming just before the category one climb up to the finish.
As the race approached the penultimate climb, two riders remained up ahead and maintained a lead of just over a minute on the main field. The duo were Arianna Fidanza of the Laboral Kutxa team and Julia Borgström of AG Insurance-Soudal. Sensing it was all or nothing, Fidanza pushed on as the FDJ-Suez led peloton drew closer on the steep and challenging gradients. Fidanza’s move was short lived, and the two riders were soon swallowed up by the chasing pack.
FDJ-Suez continued to set an infernal pace as the summit of the climb approached, with Ally Wollaston, Eva Muzic and Juliette Labous looking to keep Demi Vollering well positioned at the head of the action.
With 25 kilometres to go, disaster struck for the race leader, Femke Gerritse (SD Worx-Protime), who crashed further down the road behind the peloton. The head of the front group was gradually being decimated as riders fought to hold the wheel of the likes of Vollering, Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease a Bike), Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) and several other favourites for the stage win. Kerbaol led the reduced group over the summit and into the short descent, very nearly coming unstuck on a sweeping bend after overcooking a corner.
As the final climb began, Mareille Meijering (Movistar) and Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) both got up the road in a bid to disrupt any potential FDJ-Suez dominance. Meijering quickly built an advantage of 30 seconds over the chasers and showed no sign of slowing down. With 6 kilometres to the summit, Meijering had a lead of almost a minute as Bredewold was caught by the select group of favourites being led by Evita Muzic.
With 3 kilometres left to race, it was all over for Meijering as she almost came to a standstill on the 15% slopes. Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) led a group of six riders past the Dutchwoman, including Vollering. FDJ’s team leader then launched a huge acceleration which caught her rivals completely unawares, with only Marlen Reusser (Movistar) able to initially respond. Van der Breggen was the next rider on the road, 40 seconds behind the rampaging Vollering.
Driven on by her emotions, Vollering did not let up and went on to take a significant victory, moving herself closer to another overall victory at La Vuelta in the process.
Results
La Vuelta Femenina stage five: Golmayo> Lagunas de Neila (120 km)
1. Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ-Suez, in 3:19:57
2. Marlen Reusser (Sui) Movistar, +24s
3. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, +56s
4. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix Deceuninck, +1:10
5. Usoa Ostolaza (Esp) Laboral Kutxa, +1:20
6. Cedrine Kerbaol (Fra) EF Education-Oatly, +1:23
7. Marion Bunel (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:27
8. Juliette Labous (Fra) FDJ-Suez, +1:51
9. Riejanne Markus (Ned) Lidl-Trek, +1:53
10. Valentina Cavallar (Aus) Arkea-B&B Hotels, +2:01
General classification after stage five
1. Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ-Suez, in 12:17:59
2. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, +45s
3. Marlen Reusser (Sui) Movistar, +46s
4. Cedrine Kerbaol (Fra) EF Educartion-Oatly, +1:49
5. Riejanne Markus (Ned) Lidl-Trek, +2:05
6. Juliette Labous (Fra) FDJ-Suez, +2:09
7. Niamh Fisher-Black (Nze) Lidl-Trek, +2:19
8. Usoa Ostolaza (Esp) Laboral Kutxa, +2:26
9. Monica Trinca Colonel (Ita) Liv AlUla Jayco, +2:35
10. Yara Kastelijn (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, +2:57
