How the Race Finished
Demi Vollering (SD Worx) won the final stage of the Vuelta a Burgos, dropping everyone else and coming in alone on the long final climb, the 11.8km Lagunas de Neila. Juliette Labous (Team DSM) came in just behind her, winning the general classification, with seventeen seconds over Vollering. Evita Muzic (FDJ – Nouvelle Aquitaine – Futuroscope) came third on the stage, and second on the general classification; both her and Vollering had the same time overall.
The Main Action
Due to technical difficulties, there were no live images broadcast. Lara Vieceli (Ceratizit-WNT) was unable to defend her lead in the mountains classification, abandoning the race midway through.
About 60km into the race, an elite breakaway went, with Marie Le Net (FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine-Futuroscope), Elise Chabbey (Canyon//SRAM), Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo), Lotte Kopecky and Anna Shackley (both SD Worx). As they approached the penultimate climb, the Alto del Collado Vilviestre, they had 55 seconds over the rest of the peloton; this continued to increase, and they had 1’16”, coming into the final climb, the Lagunas de Neila. However, on the steep lower slopes of the climb, this quickly evaporated, and they were caught with 12km to go.
The climb shattered the peloton; a group of about 20 riders emerged at the front. The GC leader, Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ), began to slip out of the back of the group. At first reports, she was 22 seconds behind, and by the time she came over the line, she was three minutes down, falling out of the GC top 10.
Demi Vollering (SD Worx), winner of the GC and all three stages at last weeks’ Itzulia Women, broke free, followed by Juliette Labous (Team DSM). Grinding up the climb, Vollering distanced Labous, and took the stage win. Labous crossed the line seventeen seconds later, but it was enough to take the overall victory.
Results
Labous’ GC win is her first ever WWT victory.
As expected, the final climb was decisive in selecting the general classification: Vollering, the fastest up it, ended up third in the GC, with Evita Muzic, who finished third, ending up second overall. Krista Doebel-Hickok (EF Education-Tibco-SVB) backed up impressive recent performances with fourth place on the stage, pushing herself into fourth on GC, with Cecile Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine) following her in fifth, and jumping into fifth on GC. Shirin van Anrooij’s (Trek-Segafredo) seventh place on the stage was enough to put her in sixth on the GC, with Silvia Persico (Valcar – Travel & Service), who came in sixth, jumping up to seventh place.
