La Vuelta Femenina 2025 - Stage 4: Van der Breggen celebrates first victory after comeback
Sebastian Lindner
· 07.05.2025
For three years, van der Breggen was the sporting director of the team that had previously characterised her successful active career. And for which she is now racing again. After coming close at Strade Bianche and finishing second behind her former top rider Demi Vollering, who moved to FDJ - Suez after van der Breggen's comeback, it was now enough for her first victory in almost four years. It was the 63rd of her career.
And it should be particularly satisfying that she relegated Vollering of all people to second place, who in turn finished twelve seconds behind Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike), who finished in the same time, thus once again ensuring an all-Dutch podium. However, the 28-year-old was not at all pleased that her former mentor was now definitely a serious contender for the overall victory thanks to her victory just before the first mountain finish of the tour.
Ferrand-Prévot loses valuable seconds
The only positive thing for Vollering was that Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma | Lease a Bike), another hot candidate for the Vuelta victory, unexpectedly fell behind on the 111 kilometres between Pedrola and Borja because she surprisingly didn't make it over the last climb with the lead group. Unlike the sprinters Vos and Femke Gerritse. Van der Breggen's team-mate thus defended her lead in the overall standings ahead of her captain by four seconds. Vos is third, Vollering fourth, 21 seconds behind. Riejanne Markus (Lidl - Trek) is another Dutchwoman to complete the top 5 in the overall standings.
Anyone expecting van der Breggen to be over the moon about her big win was mistaken. Almost as emotionless as Vollering, but with the corners of her mouth turned upwards, she merely took note of her success, true to her nature. "It was unexpected and it wasn't the plan," she said in the winner's interview. "We had this small group after the last climb and I just tried to ride out. We had actually planned to ride for Femke again. Her victory yesterday gave us a lot of motivation and self-confidence."
La Vuelta Femenina 2025 - Results of the 4th stage
Stage 4: Pedrola - Borja
Vuelta España Femenina 2025: Stage 4, Pedrola - Borja
| Rnk. | Riders | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Team SD Worx - Protime | 02:49:55 |
| 2 | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | +00:00:12 |
| 3 | FDJ - SUEZ | +00:00:12 |
| 4 | Liv AlUla Jayco | +00:00:12 |
| 5 | EF Education-Oatly | +00:00:12 |
| 6 | Movistar Team | +00:00:12 |
How the 4th stage of the Vuelta Femenina 2025 went
Once again, a whole host of riders had to cancel their start for the next stage. Stage 4 started without a quintet, including the two Austrians Carina Schrempf (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Mona Mitterwallner (Human Powered Health). The latter had not recovered from a crash the day before.
Those who were still in the race had to be wide awake immediately. Attack after attack was launched from the start, with Lea Lin Teutenberg (Lotto Ladies) once again in the lead. But as on the two previous stages, the German was quickly brought back. And although the names became more prominent as the race progressed and Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance - Soudal Team) and Susanne Andersen (Uno-X Mobility) also threw their hats into the ring, nobody was able to break away until the halfway point of the stage.
At this point, the climb to the Alto del Moncayo (category 2) had already been tackled. But even without an attack, the peloton stretched out and many women dropped back. 1800 metres before the summit, Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ) tried her luck, but her attack was countered by the peloton. In the end, it was Ghekiere who secured the ten points for the mountain jersey.
No attacks on the last climb, but on the descent
Nothing else happened until the intermediate sprint 30 kilometres before the finish. Gerritse won this, with Vollering taking second place and bonus seconds for the overall classification. Vos finished third.
On the way to the second climb of the day, the Puerto de El Buste (category 3), the picture was initially the same as on the climb before. There were no real attacks, but there were several increases in speed, for which Movistar was primarily responsible. At the top of the climb, where Evita Muzic (FDJ - Suez) took the points and thus the mountain jersey, the pace in the group of just 15 riders slowed briefly before Vollering pushed the pace again because one of the top riders, Ferrand-Prévot, had dropped back.
On the descent, first Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) and then van der Breggen broke away. She accelerated downhill with just under seven kilometres to go, but her rivals failed to react. The resulting gap was enough for van der Breggen to take home the victory. Vos then won the chasing sprint ahead of Vollering, with Liane Lippert (Movistar Team) finishing sixth.
