Anna van der Breggen turned back the clock with a trademark solo victory on stage 4 of La Vuelta Femenina, attacking on the descent from the final climb to win alone in Borja – her first professional victory since 2021. The 35-year-old, who returned to racing this year after retiring at the end of the 2021 season, used her experience to read the moment perfectly as hesitation gripped the chasing group.
The 111.6km stage from Pedrola to Borja featured the race’s first real climbing, with the Alto del Moncayo and Puerto de El Buste offering a preview of what’s to come later in the week. Though not mountain-top finishes, both climbs shaped the race and splintered the bunch, allowing the general classification to begin taking form.
From the start, the peloton was aggressive. Early attacks came and went, including a group of eight riders that featured Justine Ghekiere and Amalie Dideriksen, but nothing was allowed more than a handful of seconds. The peloton arrived together at the base of the Alto del Moncayo, where Ghekiere surged to the top to briefly move into the virtual lead of the mountain classification.
Erica Magnaldi tried to ignite the race near the summit with a short-lived attack, but it was Ghekiere and Évita Muzic who gained most – the French rider finishing second across the top and keeping herself in touch for the polka dot jersey.
After a fast and technical descent, the intermediate sprint in Novallas saw SD Worx-Protime again assert their control. Femke Gerritse, in the red leader’s jersey, was led out by teammates and took the six bonus seconds, beating Demi Vollering and Marianne Vos in the process. It allowed her to pad her overall lead before the decisive final climb.
The racing heats up on the Puerto de El Buste
The Puerto de El Buste – a short but sharp third-category ascent – saw the race light up. Valentina Cavallar was the first to attack, followed by Muzic, Mareille Meijering, and Magnaldi. Neve Bradbury helped close the move down, before Liane Lippert launched another acceleration 600 metres from the summit. Muzic crossed the top first, overtaking Ghekiere in the mountain classification. With the front group now whittled down to about 15 riders, Vollering and Juliette Labous both tried to stretch things on the plateau before the descent, but nothing stuck.
Then came the defining moment. With just under 8km to go and the front group slowing slightly after covering attacks from Kerbaol and Vollering, Van der Breggen launched. There was a pause in the chase – no one took immediate responsibility – and the gap quickly grew.
“I did not expect this at all,” Van der Breggen said afterwards. “It was not the plan. We were in a small group in the downhill and I was alone. The speed went out and I saw a good moment, so I went. I didn’t expect to arrive solo, but it feels really nice.”
Her move was perfectly timed. With Gerritse still just behind in the next group, and the favourites marked tightly, Van der Breggen seized the lull. She rode clear on the twisting run-in to Borja and maintained her lead all the way to the line. Her win comes three years and 300 days after her last, and is the 63rd of her professional career.
Behind, Vos proved strongest in the sprint for second, edging out Vollering, who again found herself without meaningful support from her FDJ-Suez teammates when it mattered most. Monica Trinca Colonel followed in fourth, with Mischa Bredewold fifth. Gerritse rejoined the front group just in time to limit any damage and retain the red jersey.
Photo Credit: GettyPost-stage reactions from riders
For Van der Breggen, it was a second consecutive day of celebration for SD Worx-Protime after Gerritse’s win in stage 3. Reflecting on the team’s performances, Van der Breggen said:
“Tuesday was already a beautiful day with a stage win and the red jersey for Femke Gerritse, and today I win unexpectedly. It’s just nice racing with such an enthusiastic group, especially when things go well. We’ve already had some great days with the team here in the Vuelta Femenina. And nobody will take those away from us anymore.”
The veteran was also candid about the original plan not involving her: “We knew it could be a hard last climb. We wanted to be there with Mischa [Bredewold], Gerri [Gerritse] and me, but in the end it was a really small group. The strategy was actually to try with Gerri again.”
Vos was gracious in defeat but admitted there was no catching Van der Breggen once she had a gap: “I went for the highest possible, but more than second place was not possible today. I had to fight hard to get over the climb with the front group. In the descent, Anna placed a great attack. When you give her a few metres, you know it will be hard to catch her back.”
Vos now sits third overall, 11 seconds back, while Van der Breggen is just five seconds behind Gerritse and has a 17-second buffer over Vollering. Colonel, García and Bredewold are all still on the same time at 26 seconds, with Markus and Fisher-Black a couple of seconds further back.
Justine Ghekiere, now second in the QOM classification after losing the lead to Muzic on the final climb, still has her eyes on a potential triple – having already won the mountain classification at both the Giro and Tour in 2024. “It would be very special,” she said. “But I don’t want to put too much pressure on it. It’s a personal goal. We’ll see.”
Ferrand-Prévot had a tough day, losing 14 seconds on the final climb and dropping to nearly a minute behind on GC. Her Visma-Lease a Bike DS Jos van Emden didn’t hide his disappointment: “If you start the Vuelta with GC ambitions, you can’t get dropped on a climb like this.”
As the peloton heads into the second half of La Vuelta Femenina, the red jersey remains on Gerritse’s shoulders, but for the first time in this race, the elite group of contenders has been clearly defined. And Anna van der Breggen is right there among them once again.
2025 La Vuelta Femenina Stage 4 result
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Main photo credit: Unipublic/Rafa Gómez/Sprint Cycling Agency
