Paula Blasi delivered an outstanding performance in the first real mountain stage of La Vuelta a España Femenina, fighting all the way to the line to secure a brilliant second place behind stage winner Anna van der Breggen. The result also moves the young Spanish rider up to second place in the general classification on the eve of the decisive final stage finishing atop the legendary Alto de l’Angliru.
Today’s stage covered 106.5 kilometres from Gijón to Les Praeres, featuring a brutal finale towards Nava, a short but extremely demanding climb with gradients reaching an incredible 27%.
The day, however, did not start under the best circumstances for UAE Team ADQ. Mavi Garcia was first involved in a crash during the neutral transfer, followed by Paula Blasi going down in the opening kilometres of the race. Later in the stage, Maeva Squiban was also caught in a heavy crash shortly after the halfway point, forcing her to abandon and be taken to hospital for further checks. She remained conscious at all times.
After the day’s long breakaway was reeled in, the GC contenders came to the fore on the final circuit. Under relentless rain and extremely challenging conditions caused by a heavy downpour, the decisive selection was made on the final climb.
Following an initial downhill attack by Cedrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly), Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx) took control on the decisive ascent. Paula Blasi responded impressively, riding with great maturity and determination, holding her own pace throughout the climb while never losing sight of the experienced Dutch rider.
With just over 1.5 kilometres remaining, Blasi briefly looked capable of closing the gap, but Van der Breggen found another acceleration and pushed on to claim the stage victory.
Blasi crossed the line in second place, only 8 seconds behind the winner, and now sits second overall, 18 seconds down in the general classification.
Tomorrow will see the final and decisive stage of La Vuelta a España Femenina 2026: 132.9 kilometres from La Pola Llaviana to the feared Alto de l’Angliru, the iconic climb set to decide the overall winner of the race.
Paula Blasi said: “It definitely wasn’t the easiest start to the day with all the crashes, but we managed to stay calm, focused and keep the right mindset. It was a crazy day. Once the final climb started, I was feeling really good, so I just tried to keep my own pace and stay as close as possible to Van der Breggen. On the steepest section she was the strongest, opened a small gap and I couldn’t close it anymore. Still, I’m really happy with my performance today.”
(ph. Getty Sport)
