'I'm just going into it freely and without pressure' - SD Worx-Protime top the GC standings but all still to play for as La Vuelta Femenina heads into the mountains

The peloton is now halfway through La Vuelta Femenina, and the general classification is slowly taking shape as stage 4 saw the peloton splintered into several groups. Although Femke Gerritse (SD Worx-Protime) kept the red leader’s jersey, she is only four seconds ahead of her teammate, stage winner Anna van der Breggen, as the race heads into the mountains.

"What I expect for Thursday's mountain stage? Again, I'm just going into it freely and without pressure. I am realistic enough to know that it will be really difficult uphill to go for the podium. Should it succeed, it will be fantastic. And if not, it's also just what it is," Van der Breggen said after stage 4, and regarding the success of SD Worx-Protime so far.

"Tuesday was already a beautiful day with a stage win and the red jersey for Femke Gerritse, and today I win unexpectedly. It's just nice racing with such an enthusiastic group, especially when things go well. We have already had some great days with the team here in the Vuelta Femenina. And nobody will take those away from us anymore. Furthermore, we are going to go full steam ahead, and then we'll see if we manage to reach the final podium."

Of the main contenders for the overall classification, last year's winner, Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), is lurking in fourth place overall, 21 seconds behind. Runner-up in last year's edition, Riejanne Markus and her Lidl-Trek teammate Niamh Fisher-Black follow two seconds further back and form a strong duo that can play off each other once the roads start to go up into the steeper hills and longer climbs.

Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) finished fourth on the stage and kept her seventh place overall, 26 seconds down, on the same time as her teammate Mavi García and Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime). She said she had hoped to place on the podium, but that the team would keep trying for a top result, especially after their success with Letizia Paternoster in the opening stages.

“Today was a good day, and I’m happy for the result. A bit disappointed because third place was so close, but we are happy, the girls did a very good job, and it was a good day for me with good feelings. A bit of suffering in the downhill because it was not very steep, but we will try tomorrow,” Trinca Colonel said after the stage.

In her first Women’s WorldTour season, the 25-year-old Italian climber impressed in the Classics already, but the long climbs are where she really excels, and a top GC result is very much on the cards.

Vollering's FDJ-Suez teammates Évita Muzic and Juliette Labous, 29 seconds behind Gerritse after stage 4, can be expected to mainly support their Dutch leader, but they are strong enough to also feature in the top 10 themselves.

The 2024 Tour de France Femmes winner, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, moved up to 12th place overall, 31 seconds down. But she said that she had expected the stage to provide gaps in the general classification.

“We definitely knew that this was going to be the first major split of the Vuelta. The climb was long enough to make some sort of damage. I don’t really know where my body can be on these climbs because I haven’t climbed long for a while now. Sometimes today, I felt like I was still more used to the Classics efforts. I think I just need to see day by day, but it wasn’t bad,” said Niewiadoma-Phinney.

Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) tried a downhill attack for the stage win but finished 12th in the first chasing group in the end and is now 37 seconds behind. Although she is arguably an even stronger descender, she climbs very well and has signalled an intention of targeting the GC by trying to win bonus seconds in the intermediate sprints on the first two road stages.

The Movistar pair of Liane Lippert and Marlen Reusser sits at 39 seconds. Although maybe not as dangerous as Markus and Fisher-Black or the FDJ-Suez trio, they form a strong duo that cannot be underestimated.

While Katrine Aalerud (Uno-X Mobility), Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck), and Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal) finished stage 4 in the first chase group, Nienke Vinke (Picnic-PostNL) did not make that first group and lost 14 seconds to many of the GC contenders. Nevertheless, the 20-year-old Dutchwoman can get a good GC result as she is still ahead of Aalerud, Kastelijn, and Moolman-Pasio overall.

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) was another rider who finished in the second group and lost a bit of time. The Frenchwoman is now 58 seconds behind the red jersey, followed by Ingvild Gåskjenn (Uno-X Mobility), Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal), and the Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi duo of Usoa Ostolaza and Debora Silvestri, all within the next 20 seconds.

Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ) made a move on the Alto del Moncayo, the first climb on stage 4, but was quickly brought back. She starts stage 5 with a two-minute deficit but will hope to claw back time in the mountains. 

The same is true for Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck), and young Mexican climber Romina Hinojosa. They all lost several minutes due to crashes and echelons on the first road stages, but were part of the first two chase groups on stage 4.

The biggest tests still await the peloton as stage 5 finishes at the Lagunas de Neila. To warm up, riders will tackle the first two thirds of the finishing climb before turning left about 2.5km from the finish line, going downhill to the foot of the climb for the final ascent, 6.7km at an average 8.8%, with sections on the last kilometre twice as steep as that.

While stage 5 is certain to sort the GC, the overall winner will only be decided on stage 7. The final stage of the race ends atop the 10.3km, 8% Alto de Cotobello, with the Alto de la Colladona and Alto de la Colladiella thrown in before for good measure.