Paula Blasi won stage 2 of the 2026 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya Femenina with a dominant solo ride to La Molina, attacking on the Coll de la Creueta and riding clear to take both the stage victory and the leader’s jersey. The UAE Team ADQ rider reached the finish alone after breaking the race apart on the day’s decisive climb, confirming her position as the strongest climber in the race.
Célia Gery finished second for FDJ United-SUEZ at 1:20, while Sidney Swierenga took third for Liv AlUla Jayco at 1:36 after another impressive climbing performance. Évita Muzic and Mireia Benito completed the top five, both at 2:26, on a stage that reshaped the general classification and put Blasi in control before the final day.
The Catalan rider now leads the race overall by 1:24 from Gery, with Swierenga third at 1:42. Muzic is fourth at 2:34 and Benito fifth at 2:36, leaving two Spanish riders inside the top five before Sunday’s final stage to Barcelona.
Mountain stage brings the first real GC test
The second stage was always expected to decide far more than the opening sprint in Santa Susanna. Starting in Sant Vicenç de Castellet and finishing at La Molina, the route covered around 130 kilometres and carried more than 3,000 metres of climbing.
The final half of the stage was the key. The Coll de la Batallola, an 11.6-kilometre category 3 climb, softened the race before the much longer Coll de la Creueta, a special-category ascent of 21.2 kilometres at 5 per cent. The climb was not brutally steep for its full length, but its length, altitude and exposed sections made it the obvious point for the GC riders to make the difference.
After Veenhoven’s victory on stage 1, Team Visma | Lease a Bike started the day in the leader’s jersey. The flatter opening gave the race time to settle, but once the climbs arrived, the balance of power changed quickly.
The neutralised start began at 09:50, with racing officially underway a few minutes later. The first intermediate sprint, after 24 kilometres, went to Veenhoven ahead of Muzic and Romane Donjon, but the real racing was still to come.
Early moves neutralised before Batallola
The first meaningful attack came before the mountain section, when Sheyla Gutiérrez of Movistar and Victoire Joncheray of Team Abadie Magnan went clear. Noa Jansen of Liv AlUla Jayco later made a move from the bunch, but the attacks never gained enough space to threaten the day’s outcome.
The peloton kept the escape under control, and the attackers were neutralised before the race entered its decisive phase. As the Coll de la Batallola approached, the pace increased and the bunch began to thin.
AG Insurance-Soudal took responsibility at the front on the Batallola, with several of their riders helping to harden the race. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio and Julie Van de Velde were among the names active for the Belgian team, while their pressure began to make life harder for riders further back.
The climb itself started to reduce the peloton rather than destroy it. By the time the race reached the descent and the run towards the Coll de la Creueta, the front group was already smaller and more nervous, but the main favourites were still together.
Creueta begins to split the field
The approach to the Coll de la Creueta was briefly interrupted by an incident that forced the race to be neutralised with around 35 kilometres remaining. The riders continued rolling slowly while the issue was resolved, and once racing resumed, the route quickly began to rise again.
By the time the race reached the lower slopes of the Creueta, the peloton had been cut to around 25 riders. Team Visma | Lease a Bike and AG Insurance-Soudal were both present at the front, but the repeated accelerations soon began to remove riders from contention.
The front group kept losing numbers on the early ramps. Blasi, Muzic, Benito, Marion Bunel, Moolman-Pasio, Gery, Maud Oudeman, Swierenga, Emma Sengers, Quinty Schoens, Karolina Perekitko and Olha Kulynych were among the important names still in the race as the climb began to bite.
There were several attacks at the base of the final climb, but most were exploratory rather than decisive. Riders were testing legs, looking for reactions and trying to force others to show their hands before the most important part of the ascent.
Van de Velde opens the finale
Van de Velde was the first rider to create a more serious gap inside the final 20 kilometres. She moved clear from what was already a heavily reduced favourites’ group, with fewer than 15 riders still in contention behind.
Van de Velde was joined by Kulynych, and for a short spell the pair sat ahead of the GC favourites. It was a move that forced the others to react, but Blasi was already beginning to look like the rider with the most control over the climb.
UAE Team ADQ had helped position Blasi before the decisive section, and once the pace began to rise, she did not wait too long. Muzic and Benito were still involved in the chase, while Gery and Swierenga were also emerging as two of the strongest behind.
The stage was still open with around 15 kilometres to go, but not for much longer. Blasi accelerated from the chasing group, bridged across to the front of the race, and then made the move that decided the day.
Blasi attacks on the Coll de la Creueta
With around 14 kilometres remaining, Blasi opened a small gap that quickly became a race-winning advantage. Swierenga tried to respond from the chasing group, while Gery also began to establish herself among the best riders on the mountain, but neither could hold Blasi’s wheel once the Catalan rider committed fully.
The gap grew steadily. Blasi was not attacking on a short ramp and hoping to survive. She was building a long solo effort on a climb she knew well, using the steady gradients and the exposed upper section to keep increasing her advantage.
Behind her, Swierenga was briefly the nearest chaser, but Gery fought her way back into the podium fight and later moved into second on the stage. Muzic and Benito limited their losses together, while several other riders who had survived the lower slopes began to fade as the climb continued.
Blasi crested the Coll de la Creueta alone, having taken the maximum points on the 21.2-kilometre special-category climb. From there, she had only the final run to La Molina left, and her advantage was already too large for the chasers to close.
Blasi wins alone at La Molina
Blasi rode into La Molina alone to take her tenth professional victory and sixth win of the season. It was also a home triumph of sorts, with the 23-year-old from Esplugues de Llobregat winning on Catalan roads and taking the leader’s jersey in the region’s biggest women’s stage race.
Gery finished second at 1:20, a strong ride that moved her to second overall. Swierenga was third at 1:36, confirming her climbing ability after making the first serious response to Blasi’s attack. Muzic and Benito reached the line at 2:26, enough to keep both in the top five overall.
Behind them, the gaps continued to grow. The day had started with Veenhoven in the leader’s jersey after Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s one-two in Santa Susanna, but the mountain stage was far less forgiving. Veenhoven lost yellow as the race shifted firmly towards the climbers.
Blasi did not just win the stage. She turned the race into a GC hierarchy, with herself at the top and the rest spread across minutes rather than seconds.
Blasi takes command before Barcelona
The general classification now has Blasi leading by 1:24 from Gery, with Swierenga third at 1:42. Muzic sits fourth at 2:34, while Benito is fifth at 2:36. That gives Blasi a strong margin before the final stage, but not a completely untouchable one if the last day turns tactical.
Sunday’s stage runs from Mataró to Barcelona over around 111.4 kilometres. It is not as difficult as the La Molina stage, but the Coll de Parpers appears in the opening kilometres and the finish on Montjuïc can still create pressure, particularly if teams want to attack UAE Team ADQ before the race settles.
For Blasi, the task is now to defend the jersey on terrain that should be manageable if UAE Team ADQ controls the key moments. The stage 2 performance suggests she has the legs, but the final day still requires discipline and team management.
The broader race picture now favours the strongest climbers. Gery and Swierenga have moved firmly into podium contention, Muzic remains close enough to challenge, and Benito gives the home race another Spanish presence near the top of the standings.
A home climb becomes Blasi’s statement
Blasi’s win followed the pattern of her best performances this season: patient positioning, one decisive acceleration and then a sustained solo effort that few riders could match. The Coll de la Creueta was long enough to reward the strongest climber rather than the sharpest punch, and once she committed, the race quickly became a fight for second place.
The early break gave the stage some movement, AG Insurance-Soudal hardened the race before the final climb, and Van de Velde’s attack briefly opened the finale. But the decisive moment was clear. Blasi accelerated on the Creueta, reached the front, then rode away from everyone.
After winning La Vuelta Femenina earlier in the spring and continuing to build her status as one of the year’s standout climbers, this was another major step. She now has the stage win, the leader’s jersey and a clear advantage before Barcelona.
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya Femenina 2026 stage 2 result
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