Vuelta Femenina 2024: Vos time and time again - Dutchwoman wins stage 7 in superior style

After two mountain stages, stage 7 culminated in an uphill final sprint. Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike) easily overtook the competition and took her 253rd career victory. Behind her, Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Cannondale) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) finished on the podium, while Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon//SRAM Racing) came tenth.

Kristen Faulkner rode her sprint from the front in the final and kept the pace high. She was followed by Elisa Longo Borghini and Marianne Vos. The three managed to open up a gap to the other riders. Shortly before the finish, Vos then launched an attack and outsprinted her two rivals with breathtaking ease. Longo Borghini, on the other hand, was unable to get past Faulkner and had to settle for third place. Bauernfeind lacked the final punch in the final. Although she was in the leading group, she was unable to intervene in the decision, but still delivered another good performance. Meanwhile, there were no major shifts in the overall standings.

>> How the 6th stage went

>> All stages of the Vuelta Femenina at a glance

Vuelta Femenina 2024: Results - the top 10 of stage 7

1. Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike) 3:27:56
2. Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Cannondale) +0:02
3. Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) +0:02
4. Demi Vollering (SD Worx - Protime) +0:02
5. Ingvild Gaskjenn (Liv Jayco AlUla) +0:02
6. Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx - Protime) +0:02
7. Riejanne Markus (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:02
8. Evita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) +0:02
9. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) +0:08
10. Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon//SRAM Racing) +0:12

The current standings in the overall standings

1. Demi Vollering (SD Worx - Protime) 20:47:59
2. Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) +0:52
3. Riejanne Markus (Visma | Lease a Bike) +1:14
4. Juliette Labous (Team dsm-firmenich Post NL) +1:48
5. Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx - Protime) +2:16
6. Evita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) +2:42
7. Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Cannondale) +3:23
8. Marlen Reusser (SD Worx - Protime) +3:24
9. Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon//SRAM Racing) +3:27
10. Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) +4:07

>> All info on the men's Giro d'Italia

How the 7th stage of the Vuelta Femenina 2024 went

The 7th stage of the Vuelta Femenina 2024 covered 139 kilometres and led the riders over slightly hilly terrain from San Esteban de Gormaz to Siguenza. At the start of the stage, it took some time for a stable breakaway group to form: first eight riders around Giorgia Vettorello (Roland) were caught again after a few kilometres, but after around 30 kilometres they were able to form a group. This group included Olympic champion Anna Kiesenhofer (Roland) and Stina Kagevi (Team Coop-Repsol).

Kiesenhofer with a committed performance

Their lead was only a maximum of one and a half minutes, because in the peloton the Visma | Lease a Bike team set the pace for their favourite to win the day: Marianne Vos. With 66 kilometres to go, the breakaway was caught again. However, Kiesenhofer seemed to have set her sights on the 7th stage of the Vuelta Femenina 2024 and attacked again - with success.

A little later Ana Vitoria Magalhaes (Bepink-Bongioanni) took up the chase towards Kiesenhofer, then six more riders around Flora Perkins (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Georgie Hoew (Liv AlUla Jayco) tried to escape to the front. 50 kilometres before the finish the group caught up with Kiesenhofer, the lead to the peloton was about one minute at that point.

Afterwards, several riders in the leading group ran into problems and were caught by the ever-closer peloton. With 38 kilometres to go, all the breakaway riders were swallowed up by the peloton.

Wind squadrons help the favourites

As a result, crosswinds led to the formation of wind groups. A group of around 20 riders took the lead, including Demi Vollering, Elisa Longo Borghini, Marianne Vos and Ricarda Bauernfeind. Several more riders then joined the leading group, while the peloton rolled back together just over a minute behind them. The peloton was unable to catch up with the leading group and therefore had nothing to do with the stage finish.

Meanwhile, there were repeated attacks at the front over the final kilometres, with Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx - Protime) among those willing to break away. In the end, however, it came down to a sprint: Vos showed that she is clearly the strongest on this terrain on the uphill and won with superiority. Second place went to Kristen Faulkner, who made up a few places in the overall classification.