Marianne Vos lives up to Visma’s impressive work in Baltanás
May 9 th 2025 - 14:35 [GMT + 2]
Bound to be the most rolling and less exciting of the seven days in schedule, the sixth stage of La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es turned out to be a cracking display of aggressive racing. The scenario changed time and again until coming down to the expected sprint between the 60 riders that managed to survive this challenging day inside the peloton. Visma | Lease a Bike was determined to favor the options of her leader Marianne Vos, and the Dutch legend obliged her teammates’ effort by landing her second stage victory this week (her sixth across three editions of this event) and mathematically securing the green jersey. Vos beat SD Worx-Protime’s Mischa Bredewold by a very tight margin at the finish line located in Baltanás. FDJ-Suez’s Demi Vollering kept La Roja as the overall leader of the race, a position she will have to defend in tomorrow’s last stage in Asturias - a demanding, mountainous journey that features no less than three climbs on its second half: the Alto de la Colladona (Cat 2), the Alto de la Colladiella (Cat 1) and the final, gruelling ascent to Cotobello (Cat 1).
128 riders took the start in the 6th stage of La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es, which covered 126,7 kilometres between Becerril de Campos and Baltanás, at 11:17. There were two DNSs: Minke Solbjork Anderson (Uno-X Mobility) and Stine Dale (Coop-Repsol). The start of the race was very aggressive, with the many attackers bringing each other back until kilometer 46, when a 19-strong group went clear. Vittoria Guazzini, Marie Le Net (FDJ-Suez), Elena Cecchini, Femke Markus (SD Worx-Protime), Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek), Letizia Borghesi, Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly), Anastasiya Kolesava (Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto), Jeanne Korevaar (Liv-AlUla-Jayco), Millie Couzens (Fenix-Deceuninck), Femke de Vries, Marion Bunel (Visma | Lease a Bike), Susanne Andersen (Uno-X Mobility), Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal), Romy Kasper (Human Powered Health), Pfeiffer Georgi, Franziska Koch (Picnic-PostNL), Daniela Campos (Eneicat-CM Team) and Anna Van Wersch (Lotto Ladies) managed to build a maximum gap of 1’15” at kilometer 65, yet several teams joined forces behind and reeled them in after 35 kilometers up the road.
Hectic unfolding, with many changes at the head of the race
Shortly after this large, powerful breakaway got caught, at kilometer 84, three riders surged from the peloton: Sarah Roy (EF Education-Oatly), Nicole Steigenga (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Lea Lin Teutenberg (Lotto Ladies). The peloton didn’t immediately set up a proper chase and four women subsequently jumped in their pursuit: Nikola Noskova (Cofidis), Andrea Casagranda (Bepink-Imatra-Bongioanni), Andrea Alzate (Eneicat-CM Team) and Titia Ryo (Arkéa-B&B Hotels). At the intermediate sprint located in Tabanera de Cerrato (IS, km 104,5), where Steigenga was first across, the front trio enjoyed a 48” gap on the chasing group and 1’09” on the peloton.
Final attempts by Liane Lippert
Visma | Lease a Bike took the reins and upped the peloton’s pace, bringing back the chasing group with 21 kilometers to go and then the front trio 13 kilometers from home. It was exactly at that moment that, making good use of an uphill kick, Liane Lippert (Movistar Team) took off and forced Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike) to first-person chase her down, with Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) and Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) also in the mix. A second attack from Lippert enabled the German rider to go clear with Vos herself and Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime), yet their move was shut down with 9,5 kilometers to go. The peloton, reduced to 60 riders, was ready for a sprint to the finish line in Baltanás. Imogen Wolff led out on behalf of her teammate Vos, who duly obliged by defeating Bredewold in the last few pedal strokes.
