Demi Vollering wins La Vuelta Femenina after solo victory on queen stage

Demi Vollering had a rough season up until La Vuelta Femenina, but the dry run is over. The Dutch climber won the queen stage with a dominant performance and sealed a confident overall win.

Eight riders formed the breakaway of the day, a few strong riders made the early effort to search for one final win in the race. Marianne Vos, Brodie Chaplman, Karlijn Swinkels, Alessia Vigilia, Silke Smulders, Sarah Gigante, Mirela Benito and Magdeleine Vallieres led the race for a while.

A day with two big climbs, the race blew up in the first. Fenix-Deceuninck and Team SD Worx-ProTime. Gigante, Swinkels and Chapman were the last survivors but were caught mid-climb.

Pauliena Rooijakkers launched an attack to put pressure on SD Worx. In the descent she was caught, but with Niamh Fisher-Black crashing SD Worx left the front of the group and Swinkels who had been in the breakaway attacked once again later on. She was caught with 9 kilometers to go on the final climb as FDJ-Suez began to push the pace hard.

Demi Vollering launched an attack with just over 6 kilometers to go, with Elisa Longo Borghini quickly dropping - virtually confirming the Dutch rider's GC victory. However, after a minute of hard pacing, no-one in fact could keep up with the red jersey.

And the battle for the stage win ended there. With unchallenged dominance, Vollering rode to the stage win, crossing the line and also sealing the overall win. Évita Muzic sprinted to second place on the day, Riejanne Markus was third on the day.