Demi Vollering dominated the queen stage of Itzulia Women 2025 with a solo masterpiece, dropping everyone on the final climb and producing the best sea-level performance ever recorded.
It was the queen stage of Itzulia, with Mischa Bredewold defending the leader’s jersey. SD Worx had won every Itzulia stage and GC since the race began in 2022. Demi Vollering took the overall in 2022 and 2024, while Marlen Reusser won in 2023 thanks to a long-range attack, with teammate Vollering finishing second. This time, Vollering was riding for FDJ Suez and came in as the clear favourite for the GC, with a lot of climbing on the menu.
It was a tough day, with a high pace on Jaizkibel and relentless hills throughout the stage. Nadia Gontova burned 1806 kJ over 2:30h at 13.28 kJ/kg/h, a very hard stage by women’s racing standards. On the decisive Mendizorrotz climb, Demi Vollering put everyone under pressure, with only Mavi Garcia and Antonina Niedermaier able to follow. When Vollering launched her attack, no one could respond, and she went solo.
Vollering’s effort on Mendizorrotz was exceptional: 6.4 ᵉW/kg for 10:18, the most impressive sea-level climbing performance recorded so far. In the 1990s, Fabiana Luperini likely produced stronger efforts, but without verifiable data or footage, it’s impossible to confirm. With 537 ASLP (adjusted sea level power), this climb ranks as the second most impressive ever recorded, only behind Vollering’s 2023 Tourmalet ride, where she attacked at altitude after already 30 minutes of climbing: 540 ASLP with 5.58 ᵉW/kg for 21 minutes (6.01 ᵉW/kg adjusted to sea level).
On this Itzulia stage, Bredewold and the GC group lost 47 seconds to Vollering on the short climb, while Niedermaier finished in between, producing 6.0 ᵉW/kg for 10:48, an outstanding performance by the 22-year-old German climber, who is out of contract after this season.
Vollering soloed to her third Itzulia GC victory, beating the chasing GC group by nearly a minute. Niedermaier was eventually caught by them. It was the first time an SD Worx rider didn’t win a stage or the GC, though Bredewold wasn’t far off, finishing second overall and sixth on the stage.
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