Vuelta Femenina stage 6: Évita Muzic beats Demi Vollering to summit finish

Évita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ) climbed to victory atop La Laguna Negra to win stage 6 of the Vuelta Femenina, just distancing race leader Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) in the final metres before the line.

Muzic and Vollering forged clear of a favourites group in the final kilometre of the climb to the finish, meaning Vollering extends her lead in the general classification over her key rivals.

Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) took third just ahead of Riejanne Markus (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) as the next group of climbers finished some 15 seconds down on the winner.

After a hectic first half of the stage that saw several moves try and fail to stay away, the peloton eventually allowed a break of four Continental riders to go up the road, but they were brought back well in advance of the summit finish finale.

It was Grace Brown (FDJ-SUEZ) who set the challenging pace in the first part of the climb, serving to drastically shave down lead group as the Australian put many riders in trouble in support of her teammate Muzic before peeling off with 3.8km to go.

Vollering took control of the front of the group early, gradually shrinking the group to just the favourites and fending off any attacks, but not getting much support from her teammates.With 600m to go, Vollering tried to push clear, and shook off everyone except Muzic who was glued to her wheel. Muzic didn’t move through to the front as the road rose towards the line, saving her one acceleration to come round Vollering just before the finish and move clear to take victory by two seconds.

Finishing 13 seconds ahead of Kastelijn and 19 ahead of Longo Borghini, Vollering extends her lead in the red jersey to 56 seconds, whilst Muzic jumps up to fifth, but 2:42 down on Vollering still.

“I said it, but I was not 100 per cent sure that I could do it,” Muzic said of her pre-race plan to stick with Vollering to the top of the climb.

“When I turned back and realised that I was the only one on the wheel of Vollering, I was just focusing on not getting dropped, and I had to pass her. I am very proud of what I have done, because all the girls in my team did a really good job all race to keep me in the first position and did a lead-out in the first part of the climb. They were amazing so it’s also for them.

“[The win] means a lot. I often finish fourth, in Flèche, yesterday, also last year in the two climbing stages of the Vuelta, so I really wanted one big victory and now I have it. I think I will have more confidence – sometimes I’m too keen and I start the climb a bit far [out], but I always have the legs and now I’ve showed that to everyone.”

A tense run-in to final climb action

The profile of stage 6 was basically a drawn-out build-up to the final climb, a tempting day for the breakaway hopefuls, with every chance that a good move could stay away. The road was climbing – uncategorised – straight out of the neutral, and the attacks started as soon as the flag dropped. After just over 10km the first riders broke away, Lilly Williams (Human Powered Health) and Anneke Dijkstra (VolkerWessels).

The peloton kept them on a short leash, and soon after Movistar tried to go on a raid and bridged three riders across to the leaders, and this was clearly too threatening as the peloton then brought everything back together again. The road flattened out for the first time after 30km of racing, but that didn’t stop the attack attempts. Eva van Agt (Visma-Lease a Bike) attacked as the race passed the 100km-to-go mark, but was only away for around 10km. A group of four then got away, made up of Laura Molenaar (VolkerWessels), Fauve Bastiaenssen (Lotto Dstny), Claudia San Justo (Eneicat-CMTeam) and Aurela Nerlo (Winspace).

Finally a non-threatening group – they were all a long way down on GC – were let go by the peloton and the gap stretched out to two minutes as the race headed towards the final 70km, and kept growing with the riders taking some time to relax after a hectic start.

With 60km to go, Visma-Lease a Bike tried to kick off some action, but SD Worx-Protime were quick to control things and keep Vollering’s red jersey protected. They were keeping the breakaway somewhat in check, but not chasing them down yet, and with 35km to go the gap still sat at three minutes, although it was clear that the stage was going to come down to the final climb.

SD Worx gradually pegged things back as the climb approached, and the break were caught with 17.5km to go, just before the intermediate sprint.

Visma-Lease a Bike led it out into the sprint, delivering Vos to take maximum points and add to her lead in the green jersey. Lidl-Trek and Movistar came to the front of the peloton as the climb approached, trying to position their leaders, and SD Worx seemed happy to cede some responsibility. As the road began to rise before the official climb began, the peloton was already shrinking with riders dropping out the back with 10km to go.

With 6km, things were lined out as the domestiques started to peel off and the GC favourites amassed at the front of the race. Grace Brown set the pace in the first part of the climb, whilst Vollering sat ominously tucked in the group, on Marlen Reusser’s wheel. Liane Lippert (Movistar) was one of the first stage hopefuls to drop out of the group, soon followed by Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek), suggesting how hard things were and leaving Longo Borghini isolated.

Brown peeled off at 3.8km to go, and at this point it was Vollering who was left on the front, with Reusser and Fisher-Black having slipped down the group. She wasn’t setting a blistering pace, nor trying to attack just yet, as riders like Mavi García (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ) dropped away.

With 2.5km to go, Vollering started to accelerate through the steep corners, but things slightly regrouped on a brief flat, with Reusser returning to the front, but she didn’t last long. Going into the last 2km, Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) put in an attack, forcing Vollering to close down the gap, with the leader seemingly agitated at having to do so much work herself, but she was effectively warding off any attacks with the pace she set.

When she put in her final acceleration with 600m to go, the race leader managed to distance everyone except Muzic, which would prove her undoing when it came to the stage victory, as she just didn’t have enough to match Muzic’s surge towards the line, allowing the Frenchwoman to ride to her second WorldTour victory.