After taking the red jersey on stage 5 of La Vuelta Femenina, Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) extended her lead on stage 6 but remains cautious ahead of the final two stages this weekend.
Vollering was only beaten by Évita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ) on the climb to the top of La Laguna Negra, and she distanced the other GC contenders, winning six bonus seconds and taking 19 seconds on Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) who is second overall.
Vollering is now 56 seconds ahead of the Italian champion with one flat stage and one mountain stage to go.
“I felt very good today. The finishing climb was a bit harder because of the headwind. We cannot assume that we have won the Vuelta already, a crash or an accident and everything is gone. My team and I need to stay focused," Vollering said.
"A strong breakaway can make it difficult, like today, with the headwind on big roads. My teammates delivered a great performance to keep the race under control all day. If we keep this focus, I am sure we can bring home the red jersey."
Elsewhere in the race for the GC, Riejanne Markus (Visma-Lease a Bike) finished fourth on the stage but defended her third place overall, one spot better than her final placing in the 2023 Vuelta Femenina. She is now 1:14 minutes behind Vollering and has a 24-second buffer on Juliette Labous in fourth.
“My legs felt good today. I was fighting for the third place with Elisa and Yara [Kastelijn] and opened a small gap on Elisa in the end. In the GC, I am now a bit more secure in third place, and I am happy about that,” Markus said.
Already second on stage 5, Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) tried to attack on the finishing climb and eventually placed third on stage 6, taking two seconds on Markus.
However, her time loss on stage 4 means that Kastelijn is still some way from the GC podium, but she moved into ninth place overall, 3:25 minutes behind Vollering.
“I think that I can be satisfied with today’s stage. In the end, I showed myself well again, that’s nice. I lost time in the echelons a few days ago, echelons just aren’t my thing. But on the other hand, I lost two minutes when it could have been five or eight," Kastelijn said, according to Wielerflits.
"There is another hard stage on Sunday, and I hope to get the most out of that. I want to finish with the best there because then I should also be near the top of the GC.”
Stage 7 from San Esteban de Gormaz to Sigüenza will be mostly flat. The eighth and final stage starts in the Spanish capital Madrid and goes over the first-category Puerto de La Morcuera before finishing at the Valdesquí ski resort atop another first-category climb.
