"Everything clicked today and all the pieces fell into the right place": Urska Zigart and AG Insurance - Soudal Team wrap up a successful Vuelta Femenina on the Angliru
Cycling
The 2026 Vuelta Femenina came to an end on Saturday, and AG Insurance - Soudal Team has plenty of reasons to smile, as the squad hit all their main targets during the seven-day race in Spain. Shari Bossuyt grabbed a stage win early on, while Urska Zigart locked in a top-10 finish overall after a very smart ride up the Angliru. Add in a third-place finish in the team standings, and the group is heading home happy.
Surviving the Angliru
The final stage of the season's first Grand Tour was also the hardest. Stage 7 finished on the Alto de l'Angliru, a climb that is 12.4 kilometers long with an average gradient of 9.7%. With some ramps hitting 23%, the steep roads quickly split up the peloton and created big time gaps between the overall favorites.
Slovenian Champion Urska Zigart started the day sitting 12th in the general classification. Instead of going too hard on the steepest parts and blowing up, she rode at her own steady pace. As the climb went on, she passed several riders who had gone out too fast ahead of her, crossing the finish line in a solid seventh place on the stage.
Read also
Because of this smart pacing, Zigart jumped up the leaderboard to finish sixth overall. This is her best GC result ever in six Grand Tour starts.
"My team did an amazing job today and I am grateful for that and for protecting me the entire day," a happy Zigart reflected at the finish in words shared by the team. "I felt like everything clicked today and all the pieces fell into the right place. It was a brutal climb, but I focused just on myself and on giving my best, and the result I took here is something that gives me a lot of confidence for the next races with AG Insurance - Soudal."

Shari Bossuyt outsprinted everyone to secure stage 2 of La Vuelta Femenina
Hitting all the targets
Along with Zigart's overall finish, AG Insurance - Soudal Team also took third in the team classification. Sports director Fien Delbaere was very pleased with how the riders worked together on the Spanish roads.
"Before this La Vuelta ’26, we had two goals: winning a stage and finishing top-10 with Urska in the general classification. I’m really happy how this week went and we could tick off both objectives, with the second stage won by Shari,. . Next to that, we wore three days the white jersey for the best-young-rider with Lore and one day the mountain jersey with Ashleigh, where we finished second in both classifications," Delbaere stated.
"In the end we finish 6th and 11th in the general classification with Urska and Lore, what is a great result for both of them and the team. It’s a pity that Lore misses the top-10 with only one second and Ashleigh came close to the QOM jersey today but overall I’m really proud about the performances of the whole team.Everybody did a really good job this week. We had a plan and everybody really committed to that plan. So every one of the team can go home as a happy person, looking back to the past week."
Read also

Félix SernaCycling Journalist
Félix Serna is a writer at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2025. He covers professional cycling across both the men’s and women’s calendars, with a focus on UCI rankings, race developments, and rider performance. His work includes interview-based reports, liveblogs, and tournament coverage designed to provide clear, accurate context throughout the season.
In his reporting, Félix regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical reference. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available. He holds a bachelor’s degree in International Studies.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And yet, it attracts people, even you. What’s more, it attracts the rival fanboys to fill cyberspace with endless pointless my hero is better than your hero blabla that’s all been heard before and only helps sell the site as an advertising platform. You know what the solution is but most can’t resist. No different than women who follow and discuss celebs through gossip magazines.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
Loading
1 Comments







