On just her fourth race day as a professional, 18-year-old Imogen Wolff secured her maiden victory in the final stage of the Vuelta a Extremadura, delivering Team Visma | Lease a Bike a well-executed sprint win.
The Yorkshire-born rider, a product of the British Cycling academy, outpaced a field containing Grand Tour stage winners to claim her first triumph, while Ellen van Dijk held onto the overall classification by a slender two-second margin.
A shortened stage and a decisive sprint
Severe weather conditions forced organisers to cut the stage to just 69.4km, removing the decisive climbs of the Tornos and Honduras. The altered parcours suited Visma | Lease a Bike’s plans, with the Dutch squad committing fully to a bunch sprint.
Wolff, who had finished third in the previous stage, made no mistake this time. After winning the intermediate sprint earlier in the stage, she positioned herself perfectly for the finale.
“The final was similar to yesterday, with a corner 100 metres from the finish line,” Wolff said. “I knew I had to go into the corner first, and I did. After that, I was able to hold on until the line.”
Her sports director, Jos van Emden, was full of praise for the teenager, calling her a “killer” with sharp racing instincts.
“She always rides for the win and has the right instincts. With that, she makes our team stronger,” Van Emden said.
Van Dijk holds firm to win the general classification
For overall leader Ellen van Dijk, the stage required careful control rather than aggression. Starting the day just six seconds ahead of Uno-X Mobility’s Mie Bjorndal Ottestad, the Lidl-Trek rider had little room for error.
“It wasn’t easy to control because there were lots of girls who could still win the race, and I didn’t have a big advantage,” Van Dijk admitted.
A tense moment came at the intermediate sprint, where Ottestad claimed crucial bonus seconds, reducing Van Dijk’s lead to just four seconds. Lidl-Trek responded with a strong lead-out effort on the final climb, ensuring their leader finished third in the sprint and retained the yellow jersey by the slimmest of margins.
“I’m super happy I could win this GC, especially to pay back all the hard work done by the girls,” Van Dijk said. “My focus was to win the time trial on stage 1a, so to take the overall is such a nice bonus.”
Van Dijk sealed the overall win, finishing just two seconds ahead of Ottestad. Wolff’s stage win also secured her victory in the youth classification, capping off a strong week where she finished fifth overall. The points classification went to Ottestad, while Amandine Fouquenet of Arkéa-B&B Hotels took the mountains jersey. Usoa Ostolaza finished as the best Spanish rider, and UAE Team ADQ topped the team standings.
Photo Credit: Vuelta Extremadura2025 Vuelta Extremadura Stage 4 result
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2025 Vuelta Extremadura GC result
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Main photo credit: Vuelta Extremadura
