Demi Vollering conquered the monstrous 19.1km Coll de Pal climb solo to win stage 2 of the Volta a Catalunya Femenina, after another perfect day for FDJ-Suez, also moving her into the race leader’s jersey.
The Dutch star attacked with 10.7km remaining on the brutal climb near La Molina, with only Visma-Lease a Bike’s Marion Bunel able to follow her initially.
The pair extended their lead on all of the chasers out to more than 1:30 as the uphill slopes continued, but Bunel always looked to be struggling more as Vollering powered on, eventually dropping her to go solo in the final kilometre.
Vollering took over the race lead from her teammate Elise Chabbey, who did a stellar job leading out the Dutch rider before her eventual attack, with stage runner-up Bunel moving into third overall thanks to her strong performance, crossing the line 31 seconds after Vollering.
Chabbey lost the sprint for third place and the remaining bonus seconds to Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike), but kept her place on the overall podium after finishing two minutes down on her team leader.
Vollering will start the Volta a Catalunya Femenina’s final stage on Sunday with a 2:08 lead over Chabbey, with Bunel a further 21 seconds back on GC.
Results
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