Demi Vollering crushes rivals on final stage to claim overall victory at Itzulia Women

Demi Vollering (FDJ-suez) has won the three-day Itzulia Women after attacking on the final climb of the race and taking the decisive stage in dominant fashion.

Vollering needed to overcome a 19 second deficit on overnight leader Mischa Bredwold after the SD Worx-ProTime rider had won the first two stages on Friday and Saturday.

The recent La Vuelta Feminina winner continued on from her strong start to the season with a third Spanish stage race win of the year after a brutal acceleration on the Mendizorrotz climb with 14km to go, tapping her head in now trademark style as she rounded the final few corners into the finish in Donostia.

Ceratizit's Sarah Van Dam escaped from the chasing group in the closing kilometre to take second on the final stage, with 2024 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift polka dot jersey winner Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) finishing third. The chasers were almost a minute behind Vollering at the finish line.

Bredewold finished in the chasing group to secure the runner-up spot 48 seconds behind Vollering in the General Classification, while Van Dam's late surge netted the Canadian a first WorldTour GC podium.

"I needed to get some time on Mischa so I could not wait," said Vollering in the TV interview after the race when asked about her solo raid.

"When there is a climb I know how strong I am. Even though I cramped yesterday and still have muscle pain, I have done worse with a broken back in the Tour de France so I know I can do it and I just really need to trust myself and go for it."

"The whole team was so strong. Amber [Kraak] was riding the whole day in the front, Léa [Curinier] did a really strong pull on the first part of the climb to make it as hard as possible from the bottom, Évita [Muzic], perfect job to follow the second group. It was perfect teamwork today," she added.

Earlier in the race, Bredewold had claimed the opening two stages. She won the opening stage into Agurain in a bunch sprint, edging out Great Britain's Millie Couzens (Fenix-Deceuninck), who claimed a career-best result with second place.

Anna van der Breggen, who was touted to be Vollering's toughest rival at Itzulia Women, crashed with eight kilometres to go of the first stage, sustaining a possible wrist injury. After finishing the stage gingerly, Van der Breggen pulled out of the race before stage two.

The second stage ran to a similar script, with Bredewold taking the final sprint ahead of Liane Lippert (Movistar) in Igorre. With the bonus seconds, she held a good overall lead going into the third and last stage which was the most difficult of the race.

Bredewold was unable to resist the power of Vollering on the final day, and finished second overall at Itzulia Women for the second year running, missing out on what would have been a first WorldTour stage race win.

"It's a nice race. It suits me well," Vollering concluded. "It's always a bit curious because you never know, maybe a group goes out at the start and you're not able to control it with the team, for example. Before the start you never know how it will turn out."

"A victory is always nice. It's the best feeling there is in the world."