Après une belle semaine de course, la 10e édition de La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es prenait fin ce dimanche. Et au terme de cette 8e étape, que l'on pouvait considirer d'étape "reine", avec son départ de Madrid et l'arrivée au sommet du Valdesqui, c'est Demi Vollering qui s'est imposée. Après sa "défaite" de l'an passé, la Néerlandaise du Team SD Worx - Protime a pris sa revanche en levant les bras avec son maillot Rouge et en remportant donc La Vuelta !
Video : @LaVueltaFemenina
Video : @LaVueltaFemenina
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SportTranscription
00:00 [Music]
00:28 And what does this victory mean for you for the rest of the season?
00:32 It's a good start. I hope I can do some other really nice stage races of course.
00:42 I'm looking really much forward to the rest of the season.
00:47 [Music]
00:51 Rianne, Marcus and me were in this final break when the echelon started.
00:58 And yeah, that was a good situation, but of course also a little bit hard to control.
01:04 So a little bit stressful, but then when we entered the final kilometer,
01:08 yeah, we just tried to stay in the best possible position and go for it.
01:13 Now Marianne Vos goes. This is it. The green jersey wearer, Marianne Vos, looks over to her left.
01:19 There is no response from behind. Marianne Vos powering away to the finish.
01:23 Last few meters to go and she has plenty of time to celebrate.
01:27 [Music]
01:32 Marianne Vos all smiles at the start this morning after taking her second stage win yesterday.
01:37 But this eighth and final stage of La Vuelta a Femenina is all about the red jersey.
01:42 Jamie Follering heading into a big day of climbing with a lead of 52 seconds on Elisa Longo Borghini.
01:49 [Music]
01:53 There are two big climbs today. The Puerta de la Morquera, 9.1 kilometers at 6.8 percent,
01:59 and Val di Schi, 12.8 kilometers at 4.8 percent.
02:03 They should provide a fitting finale to what has been a spectacular race.
02:08 [Music]
02:11 With a progressive start, a strong group of 13 riders got up the road,
02:15 including Marianne Vos in the green jersey and our Queen of the Mountains, Caroline Schwinkels.
02:20 But they only led the peloton by around a minute as they approached the first climb and the road began to rise.
02:26 Some riders starting to struggle and the breakaway was whittled down to nine by the time they hit the Puerta de la Morquera.
02:33 Vos, Schwinkels, Brodie Chapman, Alessia Vergilia, Silke Smulders, Sarah Giganti, Maria Benito,
02:40 Lily Williams and Magdalene Valliere.
02:43 DSM Fermanich taking things up at the front of the peloton on behalf of their leader, Juliette Labusse,
02:48 as the gap came down to around 30 seconds.
02:51 This is Dani Stam, director of Team SD Works Pro Time, just coming alongside Alena Cicchini there, handing out a bottle.
02:58 Soon there were only three women left at the front, the Australians Chapman and Giganti,
03:03 and the Dutchwoman Schwinkels, who was determined to pick up another 12 points at the summit.
03:08 But the peloton were closing fast, the pace proving too much for the Spanish champion Mavi Garcia.
03:15 And the three leaders were starting to fade when Paulina Royacas attacked from the bunch.
03:21 The Fenix de Koenig climber quickly surging past Brodie Chapman and into the lead.
03:26 Royacas' stint at the front was short-lived though.
03:31 She was soon caught as well, with the familiar figure of Grace Brown hitting the front of the red jersey group for FDJ Suez.
03:38 The winner of Liège, Bastogne Liège, looking to set up her team-mate Evita Muzik for a maximum haul at the top of the climb.
03:45 And now we have a move by Evita Muzik of the FDJ Suez team, our winner and Lat Laguna Negra.
03:51 She has had her team-mate Grace Brown pace so hard on the front,
03:54 and now she is making her move over the top of this first category climb.
03:58 She will take maximum points there.
04:01 Muzik becoming the virtual queen of the mountains as they swept into the descent.
04:05 There was a brief scare for Niamh Fisher-Black as she misjudged this corner.
04:10 Oh, problem here for Niamh Fisher-Black. Almost crashing on that tight bend there, just hitting the barriers.
04:16 The former champion of New Zealand losing contact with the front group, but getting plenty of encouragement from the team car.
04:23 Come on Evita, go to that group, come on, fight yourself to death, fight yourself to that wheel.
04:28 Fisher-Black catching up again before Swinkels went back on the attack.
04:32 She ended up leading them through the intermediate sprint,
04:35 with Rihanna Marcus and Longa Borghini then picking up potentially vital bonus seconds in second and third.
04:41 The gap going out to over a minute as they approached Val di Schi.
04:45 Swinkels leading the way onto the only haul category climb of this race.
04:50 The stage winner would take not only 20 Queen of the Mountains points,
04:54 but also the Estela Dominguez prize, named for the young Spanish rider who was tragically killed last year.
05:00 After a brave effort, Swinkels was finally caught with around 9k to go.
05:05 Brown continuing to do a fantastic job for Muzik, with her high tempo thinning out this lead group,
05:11 and Longa Borghini was looking a little uncomfortable at the back.
05:16 There were still around a dozen riders at the front until the red jersey made her move.
05:21 But now it is a move from Demi Vollering in the red jersey.
05:25 The overall race leader makes her move.
05:27 She has no teammates left in this group, but now she has made an attack.
05:31 She follows immediately. Everybody's very, very wise to this move.
05:34 Demi Vollering on the front now.
05:36 Vollering flying off into the distance with nobody able to match her.
05:40 The battle for second place was on though between Rihanna Marcus and Longa Borghini.
05:45 The Italian began the day 22 seconds ahead, but she was on the back foot here.
05:50 Marcus really driving on in the first chase group.
05:53 Only Muzik was able to stay with her in the end.
05:56 Longa Borghini about 25 seconds further back and fighting for all she was worth.
06:01 But either way, nobody was going to stop Demi Vollering claiming her second Grand Tour victory.
06:06 Another uphill demonstration from the Dutch champion.
06:10 Demi Vollering powers away to the finish.
06:12 The finish road ramping up here for the final few hundred meters.
06:16 And still as she goes zigzagging over the road, acknowledging the fans there.
06:20 And she is delighted. She has done it. Making amends for last year.
06:25 Demi Vollering acknowledging the crowd. Big celebration there.
06:29 Demi Vollering has taken La Fulvierta Femenina 2024.
06:33 Second at this race in 2023 and with a score to settle,
06:40 Vollering came to Spain as the overwhelming favourite.
06:43 And despite all the pressure and expectation, the 27-year-old has definitely delivered.
06:48 She hadn't taken a win this season before La Fulvierta Femenina,
06:51 but goes home with two stage victories and two distinctive jerseys.
06:55 She is our Queen of the Mountains and a fully deserved race winner.
06:59 I'm really happy to win this stage because it's really nice to finish it off like this.
07:04 I mean, we did a really good tour here. Some podiums and two stage wins.
07:11 So I think we can be very proud on our shelves.
07:15 Vollering winning the stage by 29 seconds from Muzyk
07:18 would have been right up there if she hadn't lost time in the crosswinds on stage four.
07:22 Marcus was third and she had just enough of a gap to snatch second place overall from Longo Borghini.
07:31 Vollering's margin of victory was therefore a minute and 49 seconds over Marcus,
07:36 with Longo Borghini slipping to third.
07:38 The French duo of Labus and Muzyk round out the top five.
07:42 Vos reigned supreme in the points classification,
07:47 taking two stage wins to finish with a commanding total of 190.
07:51 Vollering's second win today pushed her up to second place.
07:55 And the race winner was also the Queen of the Mountains,
07:57 thanks to her performance today on Val d'Escayes.
08:00 She beat Muzyk by just three points.
08:03 It wasn't perhaps the race that Mavi Garcia was hoping for,
08:08 but she still finished as the leading Spanish rider in 20th place overall.
08:13 And SD Works Pro Time finished up as the best team, having helped Vollering to conquer Spain.
08:20 Thanks very much for joining us for La Vuelta a Femenina 2024
08:25 and we hope to see you again in 2025.
08:28 [Spanish]
08:35 [Music]