Demi Vollering continues to crush 2023 with Vuelta a Burgos mountain stage and GC victory

Published May 21, 2023 07:09AM

Demi Vollering (SD Worx) added overall and stage victory at the Vuelta a Burgos to her huge 2023 palmarès on the final day of the Spanish race Sunday.

The Dutch dominator rode Shirin van Anrooij (Trek-Segafredo) off of her wheel at the base of the queen-maker Lagunas de Neila summit finish and never looked back, beating a small pack of elite chasers to the line by more than 90 seconds.

UAE ADQ duo Erica Magnaldi and Silvia Persico finished second and third out of the half-dozen pursuit group.

U.S. sensation Chloé Dygert (Canyon SRAM) was gapped on the steepest ramps of the Neila but hung tough for ninth on the stage. The result was good to leave Dygert fourth overall as she continues to build back after two years of illness and injury.

Vollering’s dominant mountaintop victory Sunday vaulted her from third to the top of the overall podium, with Van Anrooij in second and Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (AG Insurance Soudal Quick-Step) third.

Overall honors in Burgos mark Vollering’s first stage-race victory of the year after she placed second in both La Vuelta Feminina and Itzulia Women.

Now with marquee victories at Strade Bianche, all three of the so-called Ardennes classics, and Vuelta a Burgos, Vollering reconfirmed her place Sunday in her own front echelon of the women’s peloton and status as front-runner for the Tour de France Femmes.

Stage 3: Lorena Wiebes, SD Worx crush breakaway hearts in late chase thriller

Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) sprinted out of the peloton and past all the breakaway riders in the final meters of stage 3 of the Vuelta a Burgos for a thriller stage victory.

The final of the race into Aranda de Duero on Saturday saw a nailbiter final after SD Worx left it late to chase down a committed escape of six riders.

The attackers roared into the 400m final straight just seconds ahead of the peloton and Wiebes opened up early with Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) on her wheel.

The twosome rocketed past all the escape group and narrowly nipped past fastest breakaway rider Sheyla Gutierrez (Movistar) at the line.

“The team worked really hard all day. I was in the wheel of Demi [Vollering] in the last kilometer but I had a feeling the break was going to get it,” Wiebes said at the finish.

“But I saw the break was slowing down a bit in the final straight. Demi went full gas and I opened my sprint early. And the break gave us a focal point to keep sprinting.”

The race wraps up Sunday with the fourth stage to Lagunas de Neila, and the classification remains tightly poised.

Wiebes leads by just 14 seconds, with Canyon-SRAM’s leader Chloé Dygert and Wiebes’ teammate Demi Vollering tied in second place.

“I will go all-in for Demi,” Wiebes vowed. “It’s time to pay something back to the team.”

Stage 2: Wiebes relegated after sprint move, Vollering declared winner

Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) looked like she made it two-in-a-row when she outsprinted teammate Demi Vollering and Canyon-SRAM’s Chloé Dygert in the Lerma final of stage 2 of the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas.

The Dutch supersprinter opened up out of Vollering’s wheel on the grinding cobblestone kick to the line Friday to cross the line first for a sixth time this season and reinforce SD Worx’s stranglehold on the peloton.

However, jurors later declared Wiebes blocked Dygert in the frantic final and relegated her to third on the stage, leaving her teammate co-captain Vollering to be declared winner,

The adjusted result means Wiebes is just four seconds up on GC over Dygert, who continued her phenomenal return to the road by crossing the line third before the jury’s adjusted result bumped her to 2nd.

The race played out like a spring classic with crosswinds stripping down the bunch over a tough hilly course, leaving a group of around a dozen roaring into the urban final.

“It was a super fast stage, but exciting. The group got smaller every time there were crosswinds,” Wiebes said before she learned of the jury decision. “The team did a really good leadout for the final climb and it was a really hard finish. It’s great to come in one-two.”

“We agreed I’d stay in Demi’s wheel and see if I could hold it, and if I couldn’t she goes for the win,” she said. “I could feel other riders coming up so I knew it was time to go.”

Ironically, the adjusted results Friday meant it was Vollering that ended up putting the “W” into SD Worx.

Racing resumes Saturday with what could be another sprint finish – and maybe a hat-trick for Wiebes.

Stage 1: Dygert third behind Wiebes

SD Worx kept on its winning ways with Wiebes taking her fifth win of 2023 and her first win since Scheldeprijs and her return from the classics in April.

“It was very windy today and it was fast until the last climb of the day, and that’s when the attacks began,” Wiebes said. “The team did a great job to control everything. Even though the final didn’t play out exactly as we would have hoped, I could find my space and make my sprint.

“Tomorrow is a hard final but we will try to win the stage. The GC will be contested in stage 4, and the objective tomorrow is to keep Demi [Vollering] to not lose time. I’m here to win stages.”

Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) kicked to second in the bunch gallop as the Women’s WorldTour continues with the four-day stage race across northern Spain.

Dygert crossed the line third in the 115.6km stage from Quintanaortuño to Medina de Pomar. That was good for her four top-3 finish in her road racing comeback at the Vuelta Femenina earlier this month.

The race continues Friday with the 118.9km second stage from Sotresgudo to Lerma. The rolling profile should deliver another bunch kick, but the threat of crosswinds could blow up the peloton.