Demi Vollering sealed her second La Vuelta title with another dominant ride on Alto de Cotobello, while Anna van der Breggen delivered the best long climb performance of her entire career, showing she’s still world-class, even in a support role for Vollering.
It was the final stage of La Vuelta, featuring two tough climbs in the middle of the 153 km stage and a hard uphill finish on Alto de Cotobello. Juliette Labous expended 2,282 kJ over 3 hours and 56 minutes, averaging 10.35 kJ/kg/h. On the mid-stage climbs, the peloton pushed 4.7 ᵉW/kg for 19 minutes and 5.0 ᵉW/kg for 17 minutes. By the time they reached the base of the final climb, the bunch had already been significantly reduced.
The final climb was paced steadily, with Marion Bunel, Cédrine Kerbaol, and Evita Muzic launching attacks in the early sections. However, everything was shut down when SD Worx set a hard tempo on the climb for Vollering, with Anna van der Breggen controlling the pace and reducing the group to just four riders. With a perfect stage profile and well-executed tactics, Vollering attacked twice in the final stretch, first with 1.5 km to go, then again at 800 meters. The second move proved successful, and she went on to win her second La Vuelta title.
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Demi Vollering rode Alto de Cotobello at 5.21 ᵉW/kg for 33:56, delivering another standout performance, one of many within the top 15. It highlighted the rising depth in women’s cycling: while the absolute peak level may still belong to the top three riders, more athletes are now approaching that standard. Marlen Reusser and Anna van der Breggen capped off a superb week with yet another strong showing. In fact, this may have been Van der Breggen’s best long climbing performance of her career, producing 5.17 ᵉW/kg for 34:12.
Was it meant as a cheeky remark for bad tactics or an actual oversight:
Vollering is not at SD Worx anymore so Van der Breggen is a rival leader and not a domestique. SD Worx was most likely unsuccessfully trying to crack Reusser to secure second, another ex-SD Worx rider.
Yes, it was 🙂