‘It’s going to be fighting, for sure’ – Stage 5 Lagunas de Neila summit finish to begin carving La Vuelta Femenina GC

There have been minor skirmishes so far at La Vuelta Femenina and this has started the process of whittling down the overall contenders but stage 5’s summit finish on Lagunas de Neila has potential to deliver an axe to the hopes of all but the strongest riders on the day. 

The red leader’s jersey that is currently sitting on Femke Gerritse‘s shoulders is likely to pass to another, having already moved across three riders in four stages, as with the Spanish Grand Tour arriving in the high mountains the team leaders will begin to truly flex their climbing muscles.

Already they’ve shown how keen they are to kick off the action, moving into gear on the final climb of Wednesday’s stage despite the downhill finish to come. A solo attack by Anna van der Breggen from the small lead group that had established on the final climb netted her the win and also left her well positioned on the GC, one spot behind SD Worx-Protime teammate Gerritse. Van der Breggen also has a 17 second advantage on nearest overall favourite, defending champion Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) who sits in fourth. 

The question now is will Vollering leapfrog to the top at the first summit finish like she did last year, or can her rivals fend off the 2024 winner for now at least?

“Tomorrow will be honest,” said Van der Breggen after claiming her first victory since returning to the peloton this season. “The speed on the climb was hard, and you saw how small the group was, so it’s going to be fighting for sure.”

That battle will play out on a 120.4km route from Golmayo which leads riders to the ascent of Lagunas de Neila, a climb that has previously made its mark on the Vuelta a Burgos but is now also set to be written into the history of La Vuelta Femenina. 

The peloton will take to the slopes of the climb twice, the first ascent cresting with little more than 20km to go as the race takes a detour three kilometres from the top to delivering a category 2 climb which is 4km long climb at 8.1%. After that the race will quickly descend before tackling the full category 1 test of Lagunas de Neila, which the race labels as a 6.8km climb with an average gradient of 8.7%. It is at the top of this that the winner of the first summit finish of the 2025 Vuelta Femenina will be decided.

It is a climb both Vollering and Van der Breggen have claimed victory on in the past. When it featured as the final stage of Vuelta a Burgos in 2023, Vollering put pressure on during the lower slopes and by the time she was done, crossed the line solo with a gap of more than two minutes to her nearest rival, who on that occasion was Lidl-Trek’s Shirin van Anrooij. 

In 2022 Vollering was also the victor of the summit stage on the climb, though it was a tighter battle that time with Juliette Labous second 17 seconds back and Évita Muzic 37 seconds behind. That was enough for the two riders, who where then rivals, but are now teammates, to keep their overall leads on Vollering.

Going back to 2021, Van der Breggen had yet to retire and Annemiek van Vleuten was also racing, so the two rivals were going toe to toe at Vuelta a Burgos on the final stage to the top of Lagunas de Neila. The SD Worx-Protime rider managed to sprint to victory ahead of Van Vleuten, and also claim the overall, while it was her then teammate Vollering who rounded out the podium with third, 20 seconds back. 

This range of results on the climb demonstrates the potential for significant gaps to open up on stage 5, however it is a different race and there is no doubt that at this point of the Vuelta Femenina there are plenty of riders and teams who will be fighting hard to keep their hopes alive.

That will be an easier task for some than others.

Van der Breggen on the face of it is in prime position among the key overall contenders given her position in second on the leaderboard, four seconds behind Gerritse after stage 4, but it is a big ask for her to slot right back in at the front of the climbs so soon after her return to cycling. Vollering at 21 seconds back looks perfectly positioned to pounce, particularly with two FDJ-Suez teammates that are proven performers on Lagunas de Neila, Labous and Muzic, also within 30 seconds of the red jersey. 

Though FDJ-Suez aren’t on their own with a show of team strength, with both 2024 runner-up Riejanne Markus and Niamh Fisher-Black of Lidl-Trek just two seconds behind Vollering at 23 seconds off the top spot. Liane Lippert and Marlen Reusser of Movistar are also both within 40 seconds of red.

There are others who were expected to be in contention pre-race, however, that will have to do something special on the opening summit finish to revive their overall hopes. Canyon-SRAM still have Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney in play, 31 seconds down on the race leader, but Neve Bradbury is 2:56 off the pace after an unfortunate crash on stage 2.

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) was hoping to be an overall contender in this Vuelta, but had a poor day on stage 4, and subsequently abandoned the race ahead of stage 5, so won’t be among those battling for red this year.