Elisa Balsamo left it late today but was able to come through and win the sprint and the final stage of the 2025 Setmana Ciclista Valenciana. The Italian was part of a group dropped by 2 minutes earlier in the stage but regained contact with a thinned peloton. A strong break of 9 riders went ahead at the same time and consistently had a gap of close to 2 minutes but after a lot of work from Visma | Lease a bike, they were caught in the final 800 metres of the stage. Brodie Chapman secured the Queen of the Mountains jersey earlier on the stage, despite a small challenge from her nearest rival Elise Chabbey. Demi Vollering comfortably won the GC thanks to her win and time gap from Stage 1.
The start of the 132.5km stage saw no major moves until after the intermediate sprint, which was won by Femke de Vries of Visma | Lease a Bike to move her into the virtual top-10 standings. On the first classified climb of the day the battle for the Queen of the Mountains was largely put to bed with Brodie Chapman taking maximum points and the closest challenge Elise Chabbey only a couple. That would repeat over the next classified summit where Chapman moved into mathematical certainty of winning the jersey.
The final climb saw a group just quietly move off the front of the race. A strong 9-some featuring Mischa Bredewold, Ane Santesteban, Amanda Spratt, Olga Kulynch, Paula Blasi, Segolene Thomas, Lore de Schepper, Nina Buijsman & Katrine Aalerud were clear from 60km to go. With so many major teams represented and a few in a big group of riders at +1’41” at the start of the day there were quite a few race dynamics at play. The virtual leader on the road switched back and forth between Aalerud and Vollering but the gap remained strong at around 1’45” until the final 10km or so.
Visma | Lease a Bike had been on the front dictating the chase for the previous 10-15km, with no rider ahead and trying to ensure De Vries finished in the GC top-10, they did most of the job for other teams today. Lidl-Trek saw yesterday’s stage winner Elisa Balsamo able to rejoin the peloton but because of the presence of Spratt ahead didn’t contribute. It was only when Canyon SRAM and Movistar joined the pacing late on that the gap started to fall quickly.
Entering the final 3km, the break sensed the catch was imminent and began to attack itself. Spratt, then Blasi both had serious attempts but with 800 metres to go, the breakaway was caught by the peloton. From there, Reusser tried a long one which Thalita de Jong used to launch her sprint. Meanwhile on the other side of the road Elisa Balsamo picked her moment and comfortably took the stage honours. Demi Vollering stayed out of trouble and took the GC without too much pressure in the end today.
2025 Setmana Ciclista Valenciana Stage 4 result
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2025 Setmana Ciclista Valenciana GC result
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