La Vuelta Femenina stage 6 LIVE: GC contenders to do battle in Asturias on first of two mountain top finishes

Allione, Masetti, Vervloet and Valtulini are working well together so far.

The leaders now have 2:25 with the chasing pair remaining just over a minute behind.

The riders getting underway behind the commissaire's car earlier.

90km to go

The peloton's deficit is approaching two minutes.

Rondel has joined Van Alphen, but the pair still have over a minute to close.

It's an undulating opening 30km - good terrain for the breakaway. It will get even lumpier in the second half of the stage ahead of today's finale.

The leaders have stretched out their advantage to over a minute.

Aniek van Alphen (Fenix-Premier Tech) is chasing in an attempt to join the leaders. Léa Rondel (Mayenne-Monbana-MyPie) is also in pursuit a little further back.

Not a good start to the stage for UAE Team ADQ. After Garcia's early crash, Paula Blasi has also come down. The youngster is back on her bike quickly and in the peloton.

Lotte Kopecky is in the lead heading into the final two stages, but the Belgian has admitted earlier this year that she is not in the same form which saw her climb to 2nd place in the 2023 Tour de France Femmes. SD Worx-ProTime will be focussed on Anna van der Breggen today as long as she recovers well from her crashes yesterday.

Whatever happens over the next two days, there will be a new winner of La Vuelta Feminina this year, with no former winners on the start-list.

No General Classification threats up the road. Allione is closest to the lead. She is 73rd overall with a deficit of 10:01 to Lotte Kopecky.

The leading quartet have a lead of 50 seconds as they climb out of the city of Gijón.

The leading group has doubled in size. Gaia Masetti (Picnic-PostNL) and Sterre Vervloet (Lotto-Intermarché Ladies) have joined to make a group of four.

A shot of the jersey-wearers on the front of the peloton waiting to get going in Gijón. .

Two riders have attacked and opened up a 30 second lead in the early stages. Marine Allione (Mayenne-Monbana-MyPie) and Elisa Valtulini (Vini Fantini-BePink) are the riders who have separated themselves from the bunch.

There has been an early crash for Mavi García (UAE Team ADQ).

Two riders have not started the stage today. They are Marthe Goossens (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Natalie Quinn (Mayenne Monbana My Pie).

Both were caught up in crashes yesterday.

106.5km to go

The riders have set off from the start-line in Gijón.

Niewiadoma-Phinney, Ferrand-Prévot and Van der Breggen go into the stage as the big favourites, but there are a number of riders from the second tier of favourites who could surprise.

Young Paula Blasi has been one of the breakout riders of the spring following her Amstel Gold victory. The UAE Team ADQ rider is untested on this kind of test in this kind of company.

Liane Lippert has looked good this week, as have Ashleigh Moolman Pasio and Cedrine Kerbaol. The likes of Ricarda Bauernfeind, Monica Trinca Colonel and Evita Muzic could also challenge.

Lotte Kopecky is expected to struggle on the final climb, but the former world champion has done exceptional things in the mountains before.

10 minutes to go until the start of the stage.

Yesterday's stage was a real show of force by SD Worx-ProTime as they took a 1-2 through Bredewold and Kopecky.

"We said, the most important thing is that we win the stage, and we try to do it with the red jersey. But Lotte showed what kind of teammate she is," said Danny Stam, SD Worx-ProTime sports director.

'Lotte showed what kind of teammate she is' – Kopecky eases up to let Bredewold win as SD Worx-Protime juggle cards at Vuelta Femenina

We go into this stage with the General Classification very close. The top 25 riders are separated by just 32 seconds, meaning that there are a number of riders who could challenge for the lead today.

Anna van der Breggen is one of the favourites today, but the SD Worx-ProTime leader crashed twice in yesterday's stage. How will it affect her performance today?

"I'm OK, I almost could avoid it in the end, but just not," Van der Breggen said to Eurosport at the finish. "But I'm OK. We could see the clouds already hanging there for quite a while so we expected that it could be [wet], but it was just a pity that it was in the final 2k, 3k. It was really slippery, it was unlucky."

Anna van der Breggen 'unlucky' after pair of crashes take down several riders in wet Vuelta Femenina finale

Here is Cyclingnews' detailed preview of today's stage: Wall of Praeres expected to crush challengers and shake up GC standings

Today is the shortest stage of this year's Vuelta Feminina, with just 106km ahead of the riders today. It's a lumpy course for the opening 102km before a real wall of a finish.

Les Praeres.Nava is 3.9km long with an average of 12.6%. The cream is sure to rise to the top on this hellish climb and it's more than likely that we will have a new leader of the race this afternoon.

Yesterday it was Mischa Bredewold who took the win on a gruelling sprint finish in Astorga, leading home an SD Worx-ProTime 1-2 with Lotte Kopecky in second place. Kopecky retained the maillot rojo while Bredewold moved up to 4th overall.

Here's our full report from yesterday: Mischa Bredewold leads Lotte Kopecky across stage 5 line as SD Worx-Protime repeats with one-two finish

It's almost like a new race is beginning today. The first five stages have been fought by the sprinters and classics riders. Today it's time for the climbers to play.

Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, Anna van der Breggan and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot are the big favourites. Who will be wearing the red jersey come the end of the day?

The riders will get underway from Gijón at 14:53 local time, just under 40 minutes from now.

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 6 of La Vuelta Feminina 2026. It's the first of a doubleheader of big mountain stages which will decide this year's race.