European road champion Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ) did it again, launching a solo attack on the Alt de Barx to don the first leader's jersey of the Setmana Ciclista Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana in Gandia.
Vollering made her move with 18.7km to go, distancing Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) and building her advantage to 42 seconds by the finish - almost double her lead of 29 seconds last year.
Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) won the sprint for second from a nine-rider chase group while Czech champion Viktória Chladoňová (Visma-Lease a Bike) nudged in ahead of Thalita de Jong (Human Powered Health) for third.
Vollering leads the GC by 56 seconds over Squiban with Chladoňová third at 58 seconds.
The stage nearly didn't go off as high winds made for treacherous conditions. However, after a vote and a debate with race organisers, Vollering championed the cause of going ahead with the race.
"I'm happy we could finally race," Vollering said. "The wind was strong and we were a bit worried about the gusts. But in the end, I think it wasn't strong enough for echelons, or the direction was not perfect."
Vollering made her move at the same point as last year, but she denied that the race went the same way.
"You can never do it exactly the same, because also you need your teammates, of course, and all the dedication from them, to be doing their job on the right moment. They did their amazing job with everything they could do.
"I'm really happy with how they rode for me, and how it turned out again. You always make a plan and it never go exactly as planned, but everybody stepped up in their role, and did their part."
How it unfolded
The opening stage of the ProSeries Setmana Ciclista Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana in Gandia stayed together for most of the stage, as the flat roads and high pace discouraged breakaways.
It wasn't until the hillier second half of the 121-kilometre stage that the action began to get spicier. With 61km to go, there was a stinging attack from Anne Knijnenburg (Volkerwessels) ahead of the first mountain sprint.
Although the Tour of Chongming Island winner was quickly caught, she still claimed the maximum points ahead of Ema Comte (Cofidis) and Solène Muller (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93) on the Alt de Serra Grossa.
Imogen Wolff (Visma-Lease a Bike) won the intermediate sprint in Barxeta just before the second mountain sprint.
Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek) tried to spark a breakaway with 31km to go at the Alt de Barxeta, but only served to reduce the size of the peloton and was caught soon after.
FDJ-SUEZ upped the pace at the base of the final climb, the Alt de Barx, where Demi Vollering destroyed the peloton last year and won by half a minute.
Predictably, the European Champion accelerated at almost the exact same place as in 2025, but this time she was not alone - she had Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) in tow.
Not getting any help from her companion, Vollering accelerated again with 18.7km to go and went solo to the finish.
Niedermaier continued to chase after being joined by UAE Team ADQ's Maeva Squiban. Behind them were world champion Magdeleine Vallieres and Cédrine Kerbaol (EF-Oatly), Thalita de Jong (Human Powered Health), Rosita Reijnhout and Czech champion Viktória Chladoňová (Visma-Lease a Bike), Lotte Claes (Fenix-Premier Tech) and Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X Mobility).
The second chase group caught Niedermaier and Squiban in the final two kilometres, but they were a distant 43 seconds behind Vollering at that point.
They lost another 10 seconds before the line, with Squiban attacking in the finale to take second and Chladňová in third.
Results
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