The Angliru breaks Van der Breggen as phenomenal Blasi snatches the Vuelta Femenina

Paula Blasi has seized the Vuelta Femenina on the Alto de l'Angliru. The Spaniard made the most of her opportunity when red jersey holder Anna van der Breggen cracked on the climb's most brutal ramps. The young talent — who earlier this season won the Amstel Gold Race — rode clear of her rivals and only had to concede the stage victory to Petra Stiasny (Human Powered Health) in the battle for the day's win.

After five days of racing on the hills and flat roads of Spain, stage 7 finally brought the real warfare to the Vuelta Femenina. The climb to Les Praeres the previous day delivered everything it promised: a brutal test with gradients reaching 23 per cent. Van der Breggen was the strongest there, and she immediately took the red leader's jersey after a commanding climb.

But that was merely a taste of what was to come. Saturday's explosive finale would be the Alto de l'Angliru — making its debut as a summit finish in women's Grand Tour racing. Van der Breggen defended an 18-second lead over Paula Blasi, with five riders in total sitting within a minute of the leading position.

Plenty of riders wanted to be in the early move, and that created a chaotic opening phase. The peloton briefly split apart but regrouped. Riejanne Markus (Lidl-Trek) eventually broke free, with her sister Femke Markus (SD Worx-Protime) joining her. Liane Lippert (Movistar) later made contact to complete a breakaway trio.

The three leaders built a maximum lead of around four minutes. On the rolling roads towards the Angliru, the peloton was gradually whittled down. The penultimate climb of the day, the Alto del Tenebredo, reduced the pack to around forty riders, with the breakaway's advantage now down to two minutes — too little to hold out on the final climb.

Once onto the Angliru, the Markus sisters quickly shed co-escapee Lippert. Franziska Koch — who had worn the red jersey earlier in the race — ramped up the pace in the peloton, thinning it out further. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot was already in difficulty before the roads turned truly savage, dropping away before the final 6.5 kilometres, which would prove decisive.

On those steep ramps, the peloton was reduced to a select group of favourites, with around ten riders surviving — soon whittled to six: Marion Bunel (Visma | Lease a Bike), Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ), Juliette Berthet (FDJ United-SUEZ), Petra Stiasny (Human Powered Health), Van der Breggen and her SD Worx-Protime teammate Valentina Cavallar. That group rapidly reeled in Lippert from the break.

Big names including Kasia Niewiadoma, Évita Muzic and Monica Trinca Colonel were left behind. The pace grew more and more intense, especially once white jersey Bunel — the best young rider in the race — took over at the front. She drove hard and began shedding her rivals one by one: first Cavallar, then Berthet, then Stiasny, and then Van der Breggen and Blasi. The last to go, Blasi managed to fight her way back across, while the Dutch red jersey holder appeared to be cracking.

Van der Breggen cracked, and also found herself passed by Stiasny and Berthet, who came back past her. Blasi, who needed to make up 18 seconds overall, saw her chance and accelerated. Bunel too began to struggle to stay on her wheel. The young Spaniard was away, and trying to put the Vuelta in her pocket. Van der Breggen sank further and further back, and was even passed by her own teammate Cavallar.

Up at the front, Stiasny had clearly saved herself best. The Swiss rider closed the gap to Blasi on the steepest ramps and rode the Spaniard off her wheel, taking the biggest win of her career so far. But it was Blasi who finished second and, in doing so, snatched the overall victory from right under Van der Breggen's nose. The red jersey holder lost nearly 40 seconds to the Spaniard on the stage and lost the race on the final day.