"I kept fighting to the end" - Annemiek van Vleuten gives absolutely everything to secure famous La Vuelta Femenina victory
Cycling
In a thrilling finale to La Vuelta Femenina, Annemiek van Vleuten was racing against the clock as much as she was against Demi Vollering.
“I am super happy and very tired,” she said afterwards in a post-race interview. "I kept fighting to the end. I didn't have my best day either, maybe I still felt the efforts of yesterday. But I have not given up. In the end it was very close."
Indeed as Vollering rode clear alongside Gaia Realini, van Vleuten must have feared the worst. The Movistar Team leader was able to regroup and riding her own pace managed to keep a hold of the overall race lead by just 9 seconds from the Team SD Worx rider.
“The team was great today, this is really a victory for the team," concludes van Vleuten who is now a three-time winner of La Vuelta Femenina and for the first time in her final year as a pro has added another win to her vast palmares.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Where Merckx just rode every single race he could and won all the time, Hinault won less often (percentage wise) because he was more judicious in what he raced. His palmares are nuts. He had amazing rivals, one to start his career and another to end it in the grand tours. His classics were solid. What sets him apart from Merckx and Pogačar are that he basically dabbled in the classics while the other two love(d) them. I used to compare Pogačar to Hinault for his grand tour record and occasional classics win, until I realized that the comparison was wrong. Pogačar loves the classics - ah, the memory of his reaction to finishing fourth in a 2 person sprint in Flanders in ‘22: utter domination in any one day race since then, even when he doesn’t win. Hinault lived for the grand tours and I don’t think anyone else will ever reach his record. 10 wins in 13 attempts? Good lord. An amazing rider. Wish there was more footage to watch.RidesHills11-11-2026
- I had no idea about that either.
santiagobenites10-11-2026 - great analysis thanks! appreciate you posting this. I didn't realize CX had a different standard for deviation. this is even more egregious it seems.mij10-11-2026
- As he isn't currently with Red Bull, I guess if he want to race for one more year he needs to find a team. He's 37 so this will be his last year I would guess, unless he wants to race for almost nothing like Froome did.awp10-11-2026
- I think some are making much ado about nothing. Even though Jonas is getting older, before his crash in the Tour, he looked like a solid 2nd all the way home. No one can really climb with Tadej until this year, Eric Mas showed himself which I think was a one off year for him and Paul Seixas has been able to be pretty close to him. Whatever stage race Jonas enters as long as Tadej is not there he is a favorite to win.awp10-11-2026
- Giro or not Giro, he won't win the Tour!MajorPayne10-11-2026
- Very true.awp10-11-2026
- Ciccone had a very strong end of season. Consistently attacking and livening up races. Hope he makes that last leap in progress and starts notching some significant wins. Great rider to watch.Occam10-11-2026
- Me too!!!!!Occam10-11-2026
- they can sign any 100 of top riders today but Pogi will win over Remco any time at the TDF unless something goes wrongabstractengineer10-11-2026
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🏆🇪🇸❤️ ¡𝐋𝐀 𝐕𝐔𝐄𝐋𝐓𝐀 𝐀 𝐄𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐍̃𝐀 𝐄𝐒 𝐍𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀! We #MiekItHappen again as @AvVleuten and the Movistar Team conquer #LaVueltaFemenina - our 18th Grand Tour success. #RodamosJuntos | @Telefonica @lavueltafem
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