Demi Vollering has won the Red Jersey at La Vuelta Femenina 2025. In the process, 28-year-old Dutch superstar secures her first Grand Tour win since leaving Team SD Worx - Protime for FDJ - Suez. Sealing the win in style, Vollering also took the victory on the final stage atop Alto de Cotobello.
With a big, mountainous finish to the 2025 La Vuelta Femenina in store, only Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s Femke de Vries was out ahead of a much diminished GC group on the penultimate climb of the day. De Vries just about managed to hold onto the lead at the summit too, taking maximum points for the Queen of the Mountains. With the leader of that classification, Evita Muzic, leading the chase over the climb moments later though, there wasn’t much advantage gained by De Vries.
After De Vries was caught on the descent, the attacking started in earnest once more, with Mavi Garcia going off up the road, and Muzic quickly onto the Spanish star’s back wheel. As the final climb began, Muzic and Garcia had built up an advantage of around 40 seconds on the GC group, now being led by Team SD Worx - Protime. That was never going to be a big enough gap to hold on though, and with 8km still to go, both attackers had been reeled in.
With 45 seconds separating race leader Demi Vollering and nearest challenger Anna van der Breggen at the start of the day, all eyes were on the SD Worx leader, waiting for when she'd make her move. Rather than launching a big attack though, Van der Breggen instead opted to lead the group from the front and set a brutal tempo. This tactic was having a big impact too, as rider after rider dropped out the back door. Importantly though, Vollering, 3rd placed Marlen Reusser and 4th on GC Cedrine Kerbaol were still in touch.
At 2km to go, the quartet were still locked, with Van der Breggen remaining on the front riding tempo. With 1.5km to go, Vollering herself then moved to the front with an attack, hoping to seal another GC win with the stage. Although that initial move was matched, a second attack by the Red Jersey did get distance inside the final kilometre. In the fight for 2nd meanwhile, it was Reusser that got the better of Van der Breggen.
Demi Vollering 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 finished 11 seconds down to defend her second place overall, with Anna van der Breggen 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 and Évita Muzic 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.”
The final stage was the longest of the 2025 race at 152.6km, 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 went on a solo break. Her teammate Justyna Czapla, Silvia Zanardi, and Femke de Vries 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 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 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. 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.
Vollering also won the polka-dot jersey. Marianne Vos won the green points jersey while Van der Breggen was awarded the white combativity jersey. This victory not only marks Vollering's dominance in this year's edition but also highlights the competitive spirit and resilience of the entire FDJ-Suez team.
