Annemiek van Vleuten turns Vuelta Femenina on it's head: "We went full throttle. It was a real team effort"
Cycling
Annemiek van Vleuten has not yet taken her first win of the season, but a dominant performance at the Vuelta Femenina this afternoon saw her jump into the race lead and has taken half a step to conquer the GC tomorrow.
“My team leader said through communication: ‘Girls, are you ready for some action? I think there's a good chance.' We all said, 'Yes, we're going for it!'. We know the area well and it was a super good moment," van Vleuten said in a post-race interview. The strong winds once again caused echelons today, where race leader Demi Vollering was caught out.
“It was unfortunate for some girls that they had to stop to pee, but we had already made the plan,” Van Vleuten added. "The team leader also said: 'We have already made the plan and they stop to pee.' It is not so nice for them, but it is also part of the course to stop at the right time and not at a time when a crosswind arrives.”
The Dutchwoman then attacked in the first categorized climb of the day, distancing the entire front group herself. It was a masterplan thinking of the overall classification and Vollering. Vollering managed to later on latch on to the group where van Vleuten had attacked from, but the World Champion was already up the road.
She couldn't take the stage win as Gaia Realini joined her in the final kilometers and then won in the sprint, but the bonus second and 1:04 minutes on the road saw her jump into the red jersey. “We went full throttle. It was a real team effort, I am very proud of the team. I had to finish it. The climbs were coming, so I went, also because there was still a bonification sprint," she descrbies.
"Suddenly I was alone. Only Realini could follow me. She probably has the freshest legs for tomorrow, because she had a free ride to the finish with me." Now van Vleuten sets off for the final stage up Lagos de Covadonga with 1:11 minutes lead over second placed rider Demi Vollering, and is the woman to beat.
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A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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