Lagunas de Neila, Thursday, May 8th 2025
Defending champion Demi Vollering took La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es by storm at the Lagunas de Neila. The FDJ-Suez rider finished off a great effort by her teammates with a devastating attack launched with 3 kilometers to go that enabled her to claim both the stage win and La Roja as new overall leader, unseating SD Worx’s Femke Gerritse. Movistar Team’s Marlen Reusser was the only rider who tried to follow Vollering’s wheel, only to give up after a few meters and fight all the way to the summit to finish 2nd and climb to the provisional GC podium alongside SD Worx-Protime’s Anna van der Breggen. Gaps have grown increasingly significant with two days to go – a rolling stage on Friday in Palencia, between Becerril de Campos and Baltanás, and the final mountain showdown on Saturday in Asturias.
132 riders took the start in the 5th stage of La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es, which covered 120,4 kilometres between Golmayo and the Lagunas de Neila, at 14:03. There were two DNSs, both sick: Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Audrey De Keersmaeker (Lotto Ladies). In addition to these withdrawals, Cofidis’ Spela Kern crashed out of the race during the neutralized zone. There were many attacks since the flag dropped, and it took 36 kilometers for a breakaway with Maike Van der Duin (Canyon//SRAM), Julia Börgstrom (AG Insurance-Soudal), Arianna Fidanza (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) and Lea Lin Teutenberg (Lotto Ladies) to go clear. They clocked a maximum advantage of 3’22” at kilometer 57.
FDJ-Suez rode took the reins early
Lidl-Trek and FDJ-Suez were the most prominent teams chasing behind the four leaders, managing to reduce their gap down to 1’00” at the intermediate sprint located in Quintanar de la Sierra (IS, km 87,6). Van der Duin rode first across it, and it was right there that Börgstrom jumped with Fidanza on her wheel to get rid of both the Dutch rider and Teutenberg. The newly-formed duo had a short lifespan at the front, though, as the FDJ-led peloton reeled them back in by kilometer 93. First Ally Wollaston and then Évita Muzic set a fierce pace up the Alto del Rozavientos (Cat 2, km 98,5), crested in first position by Niahm Fisher Black (Lidl-Trek), leading a reduced peloton with just 15 favorites resisting FDJ’s offensive.
Devastating attack from Vollering with 3 kilometers to go
The tempo fell down on the descent to the final climb to Lagunas de Neila (Cat 1, km 120,4), and Mareille Meijering (Movistar Team) took advantage of this to attack with 11 kilometers to go. Nobody jumped to follow her, sitting tight instead as Muzic resumed her pace-making effort on behalf of her leader Demi Vollering. When the young French climber receded with 4 kilometers to go, her compatriot and teammate Juliette Labous took over and launched a couple of accelerations to bring Meijering back. Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) tried to take the helm, only for Vollering to power away with 3 kilometers to go and never be seen again by her rivals. Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team) attempted to give her a run for her money, but was unable to match her rhythm and had to settle with a still excellent second place.
STAGE 5 RESULT
- Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) 3h19’57”
- Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team) +0’24”
- Anna van der Breggen (Team SD Worx-Protime) +0’56”
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
- Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) 12h17’59”
- Anna van der Breggen (Team SD Worx-Protime) +0’45”
- Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team) +0’46”
