Lotte Kopecky changes green for red to leave Galicia on a high
May 6 th 2026 - 17:40 [GMT + 2]
A four-strong breakaway starred the fourth stage of La Vuelta Femenina 26 by Carrefour.es, the final day in Galicia on which the peloton played with fire and nearly got burnt as they only brought back the women in the lead with 2,5 kilometres to go. The uphill sprint in Antas de Ulla saw Lotte Kopecky triumph in the green jersey after being the runner-up in two of three stages held so far. This time, though, the two-time world champion proved to be the fastest and culminated the job by her SD Worx-Protime squad. Teammate and GC favorite Anna Van der Breggen was right on Kopecky’s wheel as she took both the stage win and the overall lead from FDJ United-Suez’s Franziska Koch, who could only be fifth across the finish line. Lotte Kopecky thus exits Galicia in La Roja, and will wear it on Stage 5 from León to Astorga, where a bunch sprint should take place right in front of the magnificent Palacio Episcopal designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí.
118 riders took the start in the fourth stage of La Vuelta Femenina 26 by Carrefour.es, which marked the last of four days discovering the many beauties (and challenges) of Galicia. This time, the journey consisted of an undulating 115,6-kilometre course through the province of Lugo, from Monforte de Lemos to an uphill finish at Antas de Ulla. Annelies Nijssen (Lotto Intermarché Ladies) and Marine Allione (Mayenne Monbana My Pie) went clear as of kilometre 11, and managed to stay away as riders like Inge van der Heijden (Fenix-Premier Tech) or Josie Talbot (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) tried to join them at the front up the Alto de Oural (cat 3, km 19,5). The duo reached the summit of the first categorised climb of the day, led by Allione, with a 55” advantage on the bunch, where Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) took the best of Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal) in order to become the new virtual leader of the QOM classification.
A breakaway of four
After a string of attacks, Lauretta Hanson (Lidl-Trek) managed to bridge back with the head of the race at kilometre 24. Later on, it was Marta Jaskulska (Human Powered Health) who sneaked away from the pack to establish a four-woman breakaway as of kilometre 35, when the gap between the front group and the peloton was a mere 35”. Their maximum advantage was 3’30”, clocked with 50 kilometres to go as FDJ United-Suez started pulling to defend the red jersey worn by Franziska Koch. The gap was reduced to 2’10” atop the Alto do Hospital (cat 3, km 84), where Allione was first across again in order to unseat Squiban and Moolman from the lead of the QOM classification.
Frantic chase ahead of an uphill sprint
A strong pull by SD Worx-Protime’s Valentina Cavallar brought the gap down to 1’40” with 20 kilometres to go. At the front, Jaskulska unleashed an acceleration 14 kilometres from the finish. Hanson was the only able to stick on her wheel, and the newly formed duo started taking strong pulls to try and keep the peloton at bay. At the Intermediate Sprint in Monterroso (IS, km 110,4), they still had a 47” advantage that was quickly reduced to nothing by the many teams interested on the stage win. Hanson and Jaskulska were caught with 2,5 kilometres to go, and thus it all came down to an uphill sprint in Antas de Ulla. Liane Lippert (Movistar Team) tried to anticipate, but was unsuccessful as her attack turned out to serve as a springboard for Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) to raise her arms in victory.