Marianne Vos won the final stage of the 2026 Volta a Catalunya Femenina in Barcelona, sprinting to her first victory of the season after a perfect Team Visma | Lease a Bike lead-out on Avinguda Maria Cristina. Nienke Veenhoven finished second, reversing the one-two the team had taken on the opening stage in Santa Susanna, while Nicole Steigenga completed the stage podium for AG Insurance-Soudal.
Paula Blasi finished safely in the bunch to seal overall victory for UAE Team ADQ, completing a landmark home triumph after her solo win on stage 2 to La Molina. The Catalan rider became the first local winner of the Volta a Catalunya since Joaquim Rodríguez won the men’s race in 2014, and did it on roads that carried extra personal weight.
Blasi finished the race ahead of Célia Gery of FDJ United-Suez and Sidney Swierenga of Liv AlUla Jayco, giving the final podium a distinctly young shape. Gery, still only 20, added another strong result to a season that has already included La Flèche Brabançonne and a Giro d’Italia Women stage win, while 19-year-old Swierenga confirmed herself as one of the revelations of the race.
Final stage from Mataró to Barcelona
The third and final stage covered 111.4 kilometres from Mataró to Barcelona, with the Coll de Parpers coming early as the only categorised climb of the day. The 3.1-kilometre ascent at 4.7 per cent gave the opening phase enough difficulty to encourage attacks, but the long run towards Barcelona always looked likely to bring the sprinters back into play.
Mataró had already carried extra significance in this year’s Volta, appearing in both the men’s and women’s races during the year of the Esport Ciclista Mataró celebrations. From there, the stage moved over the early climb and through the Catalan hills before dropping back towards the wide roads of Barcelona.
The general classification had been transformed on stage 2, where Blasi attacked on the Coll de la Creueta and won solo at La Molina. That gave UAE Team ADQ a race to defend on the final day, while Team Visma | Lease a Bike had the stage victory firmly in mind after already showing their sprint strength on stage 1.
Vos started the day still looking for her first win of 2026. After a disrupted start to the year, including the death of her father and a collarbone fracture, this was only her eighth race day of the season. The flat Barcelona finish gave her team a clear target.
Four riders go clear after Parpers
The early climb helped shape the main breakaway of the day. Oda Aune Gissinger of Hitec Products-Fluid Control, Natalie Revelo of WCC Team and Isabella Bertold of EC Mataró moved clear around the Coll de Parpers, with junior world champion Paula Ostiz of Movistar later joining them to make it a group of four.
It was a young and lively move, with Gissinger and Ostiz both in their first elite season at 19 years old. Ostiz quickly became one of the driving forces in the break and would later be rewarded as the most combative rider of the day.
The peloton allowed the move some space but never let it become a full threat. Team Visma | Lease a Bike and FDJ United-Suez both had ambitions for the stage, while UAE Team ADQ had every reason to keep the situation controlled for Blasi’s overall lead.
By around 35 kilometres to go, the break still had roughly 1:30. That was enough to keep the race alive, but not enough to make the sprint teams panic.
Ostiz and Gissinger hold out longest
As the road flattened towards Barcelona, the break began to come under pressure. Bertold was the first rider to lose contact, with the peloton gradually increasing the pace behind. Revelo also faded from the front, leaving Ostiz and Gissinger to push on as the last two survivors.
Their resistance gave the finale some tension. The pair continued to fight against the chase, but the sprint teams were now fully committed and the wide approach into Barcelona gave them enough room to organise.
Team Visma | Lease a Bike had Maud Oudeman and Marion Bunel working hard to keep the gap under control. Vos later credited both riders for helping reduce the break’s advantage after it had reached around 3 minutes earlier in the stage.
Ostiz and Gissinger were finally caught with around 4 kilometres remaining, or 3.5 kilometres from the line by the official race account. Their move had forced a proper chase, but the final stage was now back in the hands of the sprinters.
Team Visma | Lease a Bike time the lead-out perfectly
The run-in through Barcelona was fast, tense and wide, with bridges, tunnels and a slight rise near the finish adding to the pressure. Cofidis moved first inside the final kilometre, setting up Valentine Fortin, but Team Visma | Lease a Bike had timed their move better.
Margaux Vigié and Veenhoven brought Vos into position, giving her the kind of lead-out that left very little for anyone else to attack. Once Vos launched, the result looked settled almost immediately.
The 39-year-old powered clear on Avinguda Maria Cristina to take her first win of the season. Veenhoven, already the winner of stage 1, continued the lead-out all the way to second place, repeating Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s one-two from Santa Susanna but with the order reversed.
Steigenga sprinted to third for AG Insurance-Soudal, just ahead of Ally Wollaston of FDJ United-Suez. For Team Visma | Lease a Bike, it was a near-perfect end to the race, with Vos taking the stage and Veenhoven securing the points classification after her opening-day victory.
Vos returns to winning ways
Vos’ victory carried more meaning than a normal sprint win. She had raced only sparingly in 2026 before Catalunya, and her season had been interrupted by personal loss and injury. The Barcelona sprint was therefore not just another line on an already extraordinary palmarès, but a visible return to winning shape.
After the stage, Vos thanked her team for the work that brought the break back and delivered her to the final sprint. Oudeman and Bunel controlled the gap, then Vigié and Veenhoven carried her into the decisive position.
The win also showed the value of Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s two-pronged sprint strength. On stage 1, Veenhoven won with Vos second. On stage 3, Vos won with Veenhoven second. Across three days, no other team matched their ability to finish off the sprint stages.
For Veenhoven, the race ends with a stage win, two podium finishes and the points classification. For Vos, Barcelona provided the result she had been chasing since her return to racing.
Blasi confirms historic overall win
While Vos won the final sprint, Blasi completed the bigger story of the race. The UAE Team ADQ rider had already made the decisive GC move on stage 2, attacking in the mountains and riding solo to victory at La Molina. On the final day, she avoided trouble in the fast Barcelona finale and secured the overall title.
It is another major result in what has become a breakout season. Blasi had already won La Vuelta Femenina, the Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées and Amstel Gold Race Women in 2026. Adding the Volta a Catalunya Femenina gives her a home victory with clear symbolic weight.
The official race framing was historic. A Catalan rider had not won the Volta a Catalunya since Joaquim Rodríguez’s last men’s victory in 2014, and Blasi’s success ends that gap in the women’s race’s third edition. She also did it on familiar roads, noting afterwards that the stage passed near her mother’s place and through roads where she first started cycling.
The final podium reinforced the race’s generational feel. Blasi, Gery and Swierenga all represent the younger side of the peloton, with Swierenga’s third place particularly striking given she is still racing from Liv AlUla Jayco’s development set-up.
UAE Team ADQ and Catalan riders finish strongly
UAE Team ADQ ended the race with the overall title and a controlled final day. Blasi’s win was the central achievement, but the team also placed riders around her during the decisive GC stages and kept the final stage under control when the break threatened to stretch the race.
Mireia Benito finished fifth overall for AG Insurance-Soudal, adding another strong Catalan result to the final classification. Laura Gómez also earned a top-15 place for Massi Baix Ter, giving the home race further local depth beyond Blasi’s overall victory.
FDJ United-Suez leave with Gery second overall and Wollaston close to the podium on the final stage. Liv AlUla Jayco leave with Swierenga third overall, while Team Visma | Lease a Bike dominated the sprint narrative through Veenhoven and Vos.
The three-day race was short, but it offered a clear split between sprint control and mountain selection. Team Visma | Lease a Bike owned the fast finishes, while Blasi won the race where it mattered most, on the queen stage to La Molina.
Volta a Catalunya Femenina 2026 stage 3 result
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Volta a Catalunya Femenina 2026 GC result
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