Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) defended her La Vuelta Femenina title in style, going solo on the last kilometre of the Alto de Cotobello summit finish to win stage 7 and confirm the red jersey.
Marlen Reusser (Movistar) finished 11 seconds down to defend her second place overall, with Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) completing the GC podium after finishing third on the stage, 25 seconds behind.
Van der Breggen led the favourites' group for much of the 10.3km final climb, catching the breakaway of Mavi García (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) and Évita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) eight kilometres from the finish.
She continued to set a hard pace that eventually reduced the group to only four riders.
Cédrine Kerbaol had to let the top-three go just after the flamme rouge, then Vollering went all-in 850 metres from the finish line, dropping Van der Breggen and Reusser as well.
Reusser returned to Van der Breggen and left her behind to take second place while Vollering was untouchable at the front and celebrated overall victory.
“I am very happy that I could win both mountain stages. My team was so strong again so strong, and we were always in control. I’m really happy about the whole performance with the whole team,” said Vollering after the stage.
Although Van der Breggen came up short in the end, she put her mark on the finishing climb by setting a steady but hard pace.
“She was trying to drop us with a hard speed, I knew that I still had something left, so I was waiting for the last steep part to go for the win. I didn’t have to risk anything today, I just wanted to win the stage again," Vollering said about her former teammate and coach.
"I knew I had to wait, and that was not easy because I really wanted to go, but finally, on the last kilometre, I threw in my attack and gave it everything until the finish line.”
How it unfolded
At 152.6km, the final stage was the longest of the 2025 race, and with three classified climbs, it was also the hardest.
Despite several attacks, nobody could get away during the first 50km. Instead, the peloton split on the descent from the uncategorised Puerto de Pajares into Asturias where the rest of the stage took place.
After the groups came back together, Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) went on a solo break. Her teammate Justyna Czapla, Silvia Zanardi (Human Powered Health), and Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike) formed a chase group, starting the second-category Alto de la Colladona 40 seconds behind while the peloton was 3:50 minutes down.
De Vries left Zanardi and Czapla behind and caught Skalniak-Sójka before the top of the climb. At the intermediate sprint with 48km to go, they were 1:20 minutes ahead of the peloton, and De Vries dropped Skalniak-Sójka halfway up the Alto de la Colladiella to continue alone.
In the peloton, FDJ-Suez and Van der Breggen kept the pace high, dropping several GC contenders. De Vries just made it over the top but was caught when Kerbaol and Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) attacked on the descent. They stopped pushing when Van der Breggen and Vollering bridged to them, and gradually more and more riders came back from behind.
García and Muzic attacked 32.1km from the line and built a gap of up to 1:40 minutes as riders in the peloton were refuelling ahead of the finishing climb.
Eventually, SD Worx-Protime and FDJ-Suez took up the chase, and when Muzic and García started the 10.3km climb to the Alto de Cotobello, they were only 37 seconds ahead.
After a last stint by her teammate Mischa Bredewold, Van der Breggen took the lead at the front of the peloton with nine kilometres to go, drilling the pace and steadily reducing the size of the group.
After García and Muzic were caught, Kerbaol briefly took over from Van der Breggen. Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease a Bike) launched an attack that was followed by Muzic but quickly closed down by Van der Breggen, then Muzic attacked herself.
Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) shut down Muzic, and then Van der Breggen took charge again. At the 5km mark, only Van der Breggen, Vollering, Reusser, Trinca Colonel, and Kerbaol were left at the front, and Trinca Colonel had to let go soon after.
The front quartet fell apart on the final kilometre when Vollering went for the stage victory and surged away to another impressive solo victory and to overall victory.
With her two mountain stage victories, Vollering also won the polka-dot jersey. Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) won the green points jersey while Van der Breggen was awarded the white combativity jersey.
Results
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