Vuelta Femenina: Demi Vollering takes up responsibility and drops competition into victory on stage 5

Stage 5 of the Vuelta Femenina was the first summit finish of the race, and Demi Vollering matched the expectations by taking the victory in front of Annemiek van Vleuten.

Again a difficult day for the breakaway, the race exploded early on which saw the early group being caught early. The quartet was formed by Adèle Normand, Simone Boillard, Quinty Ton and Sara Poidevin.

The group was caught with 84 kilometers to go on the longest climb of the day. The hard pace up the climb saw a group of around 25 riders going up the road including many of the GC riders however race leader Marianne Vos and Movistar's Liane Lippert among others were missing from the group.

This saw the front group relatively unite to extend and maintain the gap. It was never too large however Canyon // SRAM mainly put in a lot of effort to keep the split alive. The fight for the stage win would come in the final ascent to the Mirador de Peñas Llanas, a 4.6-kilometer climb.

The pace in the firsthalf was not hard, with Trek - Segafredo keeping a steady tempo. Demi Vollering herself took to the front with two kilometers to go, beginning to thin down the group. One by one all but two riders were dropped, with Annemiek van Vleuten and Ricarda Baurnfeind.

However the power of the Team SD Worx proved too much, in the steep final meters of the stage she managed to get a gap over the World Champion and has brought it home. Van Vleuten and Bauernfeind concluded the podium as the GC fight truly opened.

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