Published May 22, 2022 02:49PM
She convincingly won all three stages and the general classification at Itzulia Women last week, but Demi Vollering had a quiet start to Vuelta a Burgos Feminas after crashing at Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria just days before.
The 25-year-old had clearly recovered from the effects of the crash, however, for the final summit finish of the four-day race.
The stage got off to a fast start yet again, with no break going clear for 40km. Eventually, Anna Shackley and Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx), Elise Chabbey (Canyon//SRAM), Marie Le Net (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope), and Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo) went clear from around 60km to go until the bottom of the climb to the finish.
At 11km with steep pitches the final ascent up to Lagunas de Neila was a tough end to the race and promised a showdown between GC hopefuls. With 7km to go Vollering’s SD Worx team were controlling the race before the Dutch rider went clear with Colombian Paula Patiño (Movistar) and French climber Juliette Labous of Team DSM who placed seventh on the previous stage.
The action at the front of the race saw the previous day’s winner and race leader, Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ) distanced, the Spanish national champion clearly feeling her efforts from the day before.
Patiño was also eventually distanced leaving only Labous and French national champion Evita Muzic of FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope to chase the SD Worx leader down.
With no TV coverage of the day the only images emerging from the race were those of a solo Vollering, fighting with her bike on the steep upper slopes of the climb, eventually trailed by Labous and Muzic.
With her teeth gritted, Vollering maintained her lead over the final few hundred metres of the climb taking a gasp of air as she crossed the line to win the stage with Labous hanging on for second, sealing the overall victory by 17 seconds ahead of Muzic. Vollering’s efforts saw her climb 27 places to third overall.