Marianne Vos claimed her second stage win of this year’s La Vuelta Femenina in a photo finish, narrowly beating Mischa Bredewold at the end of an uphill sprint into Baltanás. The 126.7km sixth stage offered a final chance for the fast finishers before the GC decider, and the veteran from Visma-Lease a Bike timed her effort perfectly after a hectic finale.
The stage began with countless attacks, but the peloton held together through the first 45km. Eventually, a breakaway of 19 riders managed to get clear. The move included Ellen van Dijk, Kristen Faulkner, Pfeiffer Georgi, Femke Markus and Justine Ghekiere, with most teams represented and some sending two riders up the road. FDJ-Suez had Marie Le Net and Vittoria Guazzini involved, while SD Worx-Protime placed both Markus and Elena Cecchini in the move. The group never got more than a minute’s advantage, and with Movistar, Liv AlUla Jayco and Cofidis all chasing, it was reeled in with 45km remaining.
Photo Credit: GettyA new trio quickly took over at the front: Lea Lin Teutenberg of Lotto, Sarah Roy from EF Education-Oatly, and Nicole Steigenga riding for AG Insurance-Soudal. They opened up a lead of over a minute, but on the rolling terrain, the peloton – led by Visma-Lease a Bike and Picnic PostNL – kept the gap manageable. Teutenberg was first to be dropped, and the group was overhauled just before the final climbs.
Liane Lippert launched a powerful move on one of the final rises. She was joined by Vos, Anna van der Breggen and race leader Demi Vollering. Marlen Reusser and Bredewold also bridged across to the group, setting off brief GC fireworks before everything came back together. Lippert went again, this time with Vos and Bredewold for company, but they were caught again with just under 10km to go.
Cédrine Kerbaol tried one last solo move on the descent after the final climb, but her effort was neutralised as the peloton prepared for the sprint. Josie Talbot led the group into the final 500 metres before Imogen Wolff took over for Vos. The 19-year-old from Visma-Lease a Bike guided her leader through the final right-hand turn, repeating the lead-out work she delivered earlier in the race.
Bredewold launched her sprint with 200 metres to go. Vos came around in the last 100 metres, and the pair raced shoulder to shoulder to the line. It took a photo finish to separate them, but Vos had done just enough.
“I’m very happy and exhausted to be honest,” Vos said afterwards. “We knew today was a chance for us, and we wanted to go all in. It was really close, so I’m happy I could just take it. Imogen did a really good job again in the lead-out. The finale was incredibly tough.”
She added: “There were a lot of long, straight, open roads. Not a lot of wind, but enough headwind to make it hard. A big group went, but we had two riders in there, so for us it was a good situation. When that was caught, we wanted to take control.”
Vos now has six career stage wins at La Vuelta Femenina and leads the points classification unassailably heading into the final day. For Bredewold, it’s a second runner-up finish after stage 2. Wollaston came home third, while Steigenga rounded out the top five following a long day in the break, rewarded with the combativity award and helping her team to the stage win in the team classification.
Demi Vollering finished in the bunch and keeps her red jersey ahead of the final summit finish on the Alto de Cotobello – 10.5km at 8% – where she’ll defend her lead of 45 seconds over Anna van der Breggen. Riejanne Markus also moved up to fourth overall after Kerbaol lost time in the closing kilometres.
2025 La Vuelta Femenina Stage 6 result
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Main photo credit: Unipublic/Rafa Gómez/Sprint Cycling Agency
