Demi Vollering snatches Giro d'Italia Women overall victory from Van der Breggen in dramatic final stage
CyclingSunday, 07 June 2026 at 17:21
The ninth and final stage of the Giro d’Italia turned into a spectacular showdown. Anna van der Breggen’s rivals had sharpened their knives and eventually managed to crack the Dutchwoman. Demi Vollering seized control and took the pink jersey home. The final stage was won by Elisa Longo Borghini.
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After eight stages, Van der Breggen still had the pink jersey on her shoulders. The SD Worx-Protime rider had seized control after an incredible time trial climb, and she had held on to that lead until now. The queen stage on Saturday was supposed to create gaps over the Colle delle Finestre, but things unfolded differently.
That stage was shortened. At the summit, snow and ice made the descent unsafe, so the finish was placed one kilometre below the top of the Finestre. Vollering won and clawed some time back, but still saw a difficult gap to Van der Breggen heading into the final stage. That one was not exactly easy either: was there still something possible?
It made for a nervous opening phase, because plenty of moves were expected. There were many attacks, but nobody got away on the flat first forty kilometres. After that came the Montoso, the hardest and longest climb of the day. FDJ-SUEZ put a plan into action there. The French team set the pace and quickly whittled down the peloton.
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Niedermaier sneaks away, Van der Breggen in danger
It soon became clear that things had to happen there and then. With 95 kilometres to go, Vollering attacked. Van der Breggen was glued to her wheel, however. The other favourites were also able to follow, so about ten riders ended up at the front. Vollering’s first move had failed: Van der Breggen was still there at the summit, but Marlen Reusser (Movistar) had been dropped.
She was fifth in the overall standings, and Femke de Vries (Visma | Lease a Bike) still had half a minute to make up. Could she dream of a top five? Perhaps, but many riders dared to dream. In the valley after the climb, nerves set in. Nobody wanted to pull, and so the attacks kept coming one after another. When the dust settled, third-placed Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon//SRAM) had ridden away.
Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) and Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) joined her, and meanwhile Vollering and Van der Breggen gave each other little room. De Vries saw the danger and jumped clear in an attempt to secure her top-five position. But Niedermaier and company kept extending their advantage. When the gap had almost reached two minutes, Van der Breggen and Vollering finally got to work, with help from FDJ-SUEZ helper Lauren Dickson: the German rival was virtually in pink.
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Van der Breggen and Vollering grant each other little
Dickson did excellent work, but she did not gain a metre on the three riders ahead. Isabella Holmgren, the white jersey wearer, had meanwhile dropped back to the group featuring Reusser and Magdeleine Vallieres (EF Education-Oatly), and that group quickly closed in on the trio with Vollering and Van der Breggen. That forced the pink jersey wearer to help in the chase as well.
That brought De Vries back: an extra pair of legs in the group could surely help them, but the cooperation was far from ideal. Van der Breggen and Vollering kept playing games, and the deficit to Niedermaier stayed around 1:40. The Colletta di Brondello, the final climb of the day about forty kilometres from the line, would be crucial.
Just as things started to look better again, Van der Breggen let Dickson stop working. She did not want to do a single metre on the front, so the gap went back up. The cat-and-mouse game between Van der Breggen and Vollering continued, although Dickson eventually did return to the front to bring the gap back down for Vollering’s benefit.
Meanwhile, the first riders were approaching the final climb of the stage, the Colletta di Brondello (5 km at 7.2 per cent). The penultimate kilometre in particular was tough, averaging 10 per cent. That made it the ideal springboard for Vollering to launch an all-or-nothing move.
Niedermaier’s group started the Brondello with a lead of a minute and a half. Behind them, Dickson immediately had to let go after all the work she had done. Van der Breggen then took responsibility as race leader and set a strong tempo.
But she could hardly reduce Niedermaier’s lead at all, and she did not have the extra punch to accelerate. Vollering did have something left in the tank and used the steep penultimate kilometre to attack. Van der Breggen had no answer and now found herself being attacked from two sides.
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Van der Breggen sees Vuelta scenario repeated at Giro
The Giro therefore turned into a three-way fight on the final day. Van der Breggen’s lead over Niedermaier was 1:20, but she only had 49 seconds in hand over Vollering. That meant Vollering also had to haul back a sizeable deficit to Niedermaier if she wanted overall victory.
Vollering, however, underlined that ambition. In impressive style and in a short space of time, she erased a deficit of almost a minute and a half to Niedermaier, Longo Borghini and Fisher-Black. Vollering’s power effort completely turned the situation in her favour.
Meanwhile, Van der Breggen was staring at a 1:20 deficit to Vollering. Her lead over the rest of the classification had therefore already been wiped out. Once again, she saw the overall victory slip through her fingers on the final day, just as she lost the lead in the final stage of the Vuelta at the start of May.
For a moment, Van der Breggen seemed to grind to a halt after Vollering’s devastating attack, but De Vries rejoined her from behind and put the pace back on for her own GC ambitions. Even so, the gap continued to grow slowly but surely, meaning second place in the overall standings also disappeared from Van der Breggen’s reach.
The quartet at the front left the stage victory to a sprint. Vollering was forced to lead it out and let the stage win go, as she was already more than satisfied with the overall victory. Fisher-Black launched the sprint first, but Longo Borghini came past her to claim the stage win.
Results stage 9 Giro d'Italia women 2026
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
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Latest Comments
- - Love the narrative arc here: puncture on stage 1, podium in the rain on stage 2, caught in the split on stage 3, then leader’s jersey on stageShades of Corbin Strong last year. If Sheehan pulls this off, that Wallonie-Arctic double template could be in play again.tourdeforce905-06-2026
- - Three seconds over Oliver and De Lie is nothing with one stage left. If NSN wants to keep the jersey, they’ll have to patrol every move and mop up sprint bonuses. Curious whether Sheehan goes defensive or tries another punch on the climbs—his style seems to suit the parcours.patriciaw05-06-2026
- - De Lie needed that one. You could see the weeks of frustration come off his shoulders when he collapsed on the bars. Classic Belgian timing on home roads. Also, credit to NSN—seven guys riding strong and still brave enough to attack for bonus seconds. That’s racing.raceready705-06-2026
- - What a rollercoaster finish. Sheehan emptying the tank solo on the Côte de Frankendelle and then De Lie launching that last-gasp sprint… absolute heartbreak and brilliance in the same frame. Still, orange jersey earned. Tomorrow’s going to be tense with those intermediate sprints.cyclechamp4505-06-2026
- - Slimme keuze om de overgang na de Tour te doen. Continuïteit is key. Dankjewel, Luca, voor 16 jaar toewijding. Benieuwd of we onder Schleck een nog agressievere koersstijl gaan zien met dezelfde warmte achter de schermen.bikebuffj05-06-2026
- - Helemaal eens over Mads Pedersen en dat Monument. Hij rijdt zo consistent en neemt altijd verantwoordelijkheid voor het team. Hopelijk valt het dit jaar of volgend voorjaar eindelijk eens goed. Hij verdient het zonder twijfel.andrewf05-06-2026
- - Het raakt me nog steeds als ik denk aan “Forza Luca”. Dat zegt alles over de cultuur binnen Lidl-Trek. Als die teamspirit behouden blijft onder de nieuwe leiding, kan dit echt een volgende stap worden.tourdeforce905-06-2026
- - Wat een einde van een tijdperk. Guercilena heeft echt de ziel van dit team mee gevormd, zeker door die focus op zorg en structuur. Petje af dat hij na zijn ziekte zo sterk terugkwam. Ben benieuwd wat Andy Schleck en Niermann gaan brengen.samanthak05-06-2026
- - Hij heeft etappes in Tour én Vuelta, en nu sluit hij z’n Grand Tour-hoofdstuk af met waardigheid. Geen Giro-etappe verandert echt niets aan zijn status. Nog twee jaar tothopelijk zien we hem nog een keer stunten in eendagskoersen of een bergtrui-jacht.samanthak04-06-2026
- - Leuk detail over de slotrit in Rome: “gevouwen over je fiets” en ondertussen nadenken over het programma na de Giro. Eerst afmaken, dan pas plannen — echte profmentaliteit. En Groenewegen net naast het podium, zonde!robert6504-06-2026
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