Vollering puts the cherry on top with dominant Valencia finale after superb sprint

The women’s peloton had unexpectedly been given a rest day on Saturday, as extreme winds — which have affected racing across southern Europe — led organisers to cancel stage 3 entirely. That meant Sunday’s finale started with the general classification as it stood after stage 2, with Vollering still leading.

The final stage also began without Silke Smulders, who crashed in stage 2. Her team confirmed on Sunday morning via X that the Dutch rider has been diagnosed with a fracture in a vertebra. It is another dose of bad luck for Smulders this year, after a training crash had already forced her to postpone her season debut at the Tour Down Under.

Sunday’s closing stage was set to cover 121 kilometres, with just the Alt de l’Oronet on the route — a climb of 5.4 kilometres at an average of 4.9%, cresting around 30 kilometres from the finish. With so little climbing on paper, the expectation was that the overall battle might remain quiet, while the faster riders would have their chance in the finale.

It took a while before a breakaway formed, but after more than 30 kilometres four riders finally got clear: Maike van der Duin (Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto) and Malou Eisen (VolkerWessels) represented the Netherlands, alongside Austria’s Carina Schrempf (Fenix–Premier Tech) and France’s Émilie Morier (St Michel–Preference Home–Auber93).

The peloton let the quartet build an advantage of more than three minutes, but that gap began to melt quickly as the race approached the climb. On the Alt de l’Oronet, the break was caught — and the catch immediately sparked fireworks. Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) was the first of the favourites to attack.

Vollering responded — and then went straight over the top of the move herself. That set up a fascinating battle among the GC riders, with Vollering and Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto) managing to slip away over the summit. On the flat, however, the pair were reeled back in.

Not by the full peloton, but by Liane Lippert (Movistar), Squiban and Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X). With five riders now clear, the move looked like it could stay away from the heavily reduced bunch, which was staring at a deficit of around 45 seconds. Only poor cooperation up front still offered hope behind.

But the five worked well together, and it became clear the stage winner would come from this group. With 10, 6 and 4 bonus seconds on offer at the finish, the final classification still had a bit of bite too: Squiban (second overall), Ottestad (seventh) and Niedermaier were separated by just six seconds before the stage.

The first chasing group threw everything at it, but never made it back. So it came down to a sprint of five — and Vollering launched first. In her orange leader’s jersey, the Dutch rider immediately opened a gap and no one could come around her. With that, the FDJ–SUEZ leader powered to the stage win and sealed the overall title in emphatic style.