Alto de Cotobello.Asturias, Saturday 10th May 2025
Few title defences turn out in such glory as Demi Vollering’s at La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es. After winning the 2024 edition by a comfortable margin, the Dutch rider came back to the Spanish Grand Tour spearheading a powerful FDJ-Suez squad – and made the most of it. Vollering claimed La Roja atop Lagunas de Neila on Thursday and closed her race with a bang on Saturday atop the Alto de Cotobello, unfurling a powerful acceleration 800 meters from the summit of the final climb in the seventh and last stage of La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es that enabled her to raise her arms in victory and fully showcase a fully-deserved Red jersey. 2nd and 3rd both at the finish line and in the overall podium were two former teammates of hers – Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team) and Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime). The latter brought home the Combativity award. Vollering, meanwhile, won the Mountain classification, as well as the Teams contest along with her coéquipiers. Marianne Vos earned her third consecutive green jersey thanks to her two stage wins in Sant Boi de Llobregat and Baltanás.
125 riders took the start in the 7th stage of La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es, which covered 152,6 kilometres between La Robla and the Alto de Cotobello in Asturias, at 10:08. There were three DNSs: Linda Zanetti (Human Powered Health), Magdalene Lind (Coop-Repsol) and Arianna Fidanza (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi). A large number of riders pulled out from the race as it unfolded. The cold, wet conditions made the hardest stage ever ridden in this event, with 2.724 meters of elevation gain, even tougher. There were splits and attacks left and right during the first half of the stage. It took 54 kilometers for Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka (Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto) to go up the road solo, followed by several chasing efforts. At the foot of the Alto de la Colladona (Cat 2, km 86), the Polish rider had a 40” advantage on teammate Justyna Czapla, Silvia Zanardi (Human Powered Health) and Femke de Vries (Visma | Lease a Bike); 3’00” on Elisa Valtulini (Bepink-Imatra-Bongioanni); and 3’50” on the peloton.
Several breakaways failed to stick
In the first climb of the day, De Vries caught up with Skalniak-Sójka and was first at the top while Zanardi, Czapla and Valtulini were swept in by the peloton. At the summit of the Alto de la Colladona (Cat 2, km 86), the leading duo enjoyed a 2’12” advantage on the peloton, driven by Évita Muzic (FDJ-Suez). Skalniak-Sójka was first across the intermediate sprint located in San Martín del Rey Aurelio (IS, km 104,6). At the foot of the Alto de la Colladiella (Cat 1, km 113,8), the front duo kept a 1’15” gap on the peloton. De Vries took off solo and reached the summit with 15” on a favorites group that was reduced to just 20 riders by several accelerations, including a strong pull by Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime). The lone leader would be caught in the descent, with 35 kilometers to go. A few moments later, Mavi García (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) and Muzic surged and went clear, building a gap that was clocked at 1’28” with 20 kilometers left to race.
Extraordinary climb by Van der Breggen
At the foot of the 10,3-kilometer long final climb to the Alto de Cotobello (Cat 1, km 152,6 – Cima Estela Domínguez), García and Muzic held a 42” advantage on peloton formed by 40 riders and led by SD Worx-Protime. Once Mischa Bredewold finished her work with 9 kilometers to go, Van der Breggen herself took over. The Dutch rider put a great display of determination to set a fierce pace that decimated the favorites group one by one down to four riders, as only Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team) and Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) were able to keep up with her. As the finish line loomed, the woman in La Roja accelerated – first with 1,5 kilometers to go, then 800 meters from the finish. This last attack was too much for the other favorites and she built a sizable margin to comfortably enjoy her victory. Behind her, Reusser outpaced Van der Breggen to climb onto the second step of the final podium, relegating Van der Breggen to the third one.
STAGE 7 RESULT
- Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) 4h23’34”
- Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team) +0’11”
- Anna van der Breggen (Team SD Worx-Protime) +0’25”
INDIVIDUAL GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
- Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) 19h41’32”
- Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team) +1’01”
- Anna van der Breggen (Team SD Worx-Protime) +1’16”
