Borja, Wednesday 7th May 2025
Three years and ten months after her last win as a professional cyclist, SD Worx-Protime’s Anna van der Breggen raised her arms in victory at Borja, finish of the fourth (and fought) stage of La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es. After two rolling days, the bunch finally met the mountains in the province in Zaragoza and everything came down to a skirmish race between the GC riders. The Dutch veteran was the wisest amongst them, taking off downhill with 7 kilometers to go to claim an exciting triumph that puts her second in the overall standings, right behind teammate Femke Gerritse. Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) were 2nd and 3rd at the finish line, and sit now 3rd and 4th in a general classification that will be turned upside down by the Lagunas de Neila – the race’s first summit finish, scheduled on Thursday.
137 riders took the start in the 4th stage of La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es, which covered 111,6 kilometres between Pedrola and Borja, at 14:17. There were five DNSs: Greta Marturano (UAE Team ADQ), Carina Schrempf (Fenix-Deceuninck), Mona Mitterwallner (Human Powered Health), Laura Tomasi (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) and Laura Asencio (Arkéa-B&B Hotels). The first 40 kilometers of the day were an attack fest, with many breakaway attempts, some including riders as relevant as AG Insurance-Soudal’s Justine Ghekiere, failing to go clear. In similar fashion, Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ) jumped from the peloton midway through the Alto del Moncayo (cat 2, km 58,5) climb, only for her offensive to be quickly shut down. Ghekiere came first across the summit in order to unseat Ane Santesteban (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) as leader of the QOM classification.
Vollering claims four bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint
Despite some unsuccessful attacks, the whole pack came all but together to the intermediate sprint located in Novallas (IS, km 81,3). SD Worx-Protime put an excellent leadout for overall leader Femke Gerritse, who claimed maximum bonus seconds as Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) sprinter on her wheel to take four for the benefit of her GC bid. A move from Julie Van de Velde (AG Insurance-Soudal) failed to prosper as the peloton warmed up for the decisive climb to the Puerto de El Buste (cat 3, km 99).
Many moves uphill – and downhill
Valentina Cavallar (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) was the first woman to attack up the last climb, reducing the front group to 40 riders. Movistar Team took over with first Cat Ferguson, then Mareille Meijering and finally Liane Lippert gradually increasing the pace. There were just 17 riders left at the head of the race, with GC leader Gerritse dropped off the back, when Évita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) came first across the summit to claim the QOM classification lead. The French climber was also setting up an unsuccessful attack from defending champion Demi Vollering. Afterwards, many riders tried their luck before Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) took off right in the outskirts of the Santuario de la Misericordia (km 104,7). Muzic’s devoted work couldn’t help the Dutch rider triumph, while Gerritse managed to bridge back just in time to keep La Roja.
STAGE 4 RESULT
- Anna van der Breggen (Team SD Worx – Protime) 02h49’55”
- Marianne Vos (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) +00’12”
- Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) +00’12”
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
- Femke Gerritse (Team SD Worx – Protime) 08h57’51”
- Anna van der Breggen (Team SD Worx – Protime) +00’04”
- Marianne Vos (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) +00’10”
