tadej. my man. jonas. sir. why are you chasing this hard.
there are so many more mountains. you would not BELIEVE how many more mountains.
and everyone seems to have covid.
can we just-- can you NOT?
LET THE BREAKAWAY LIVE, MY DUDES. IF YOU DON'T, BEN HEALY VERY WELL MIGHT DO VIOLENCE TO HIMSELF AND EVERYONE ELSE TRYING TO MAKE A BREAKAWAY WIN HAPPEN ANYWAY.
Évita Muzic out-sprints Demi Vollering to win Stage 6 of La Vuelta Feminina!
Muzic's teammate Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez) paced the lower slopes of La Laguna Negra climb, and after a brief pull by Marlen Reusser (SD Worx-Protime), Vollering took over on the front for the last kilometers, with Muzic in her wheel. When Vollering put in her trademark acceleration in the last kilometer, only Muzic could go with her, leaving top contenders like Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) and Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) behind. Muzic then sprinted around Vollering in the last 100m, and although Vollering responded, Muzic stayed ahead for the win.
It's nice to see Muzic stepping up, particularly since teammate Cecilie Uttrup-Ludwig has been largely absent this season. It also doesn't escape our notice that Vollering is rumored to be joining FDJ-Suez next season after leaving SD Worx-Protime. Muzic would make a very dangerous co-leader or mountain domestique for Vollering in the stage races!
Vollering extends her overall lead to second-place ELB to almost a minute, with Riejanne Markus (Visma Lease-a-Bike) about 20 seconds behind ELB. Markus has had a good race so far, and a podium place would be a really nice addition to the green sprint jersey that Marianne Vos has all but locked up.
Sepp Kuss of Team Visma | Lease a Bike & Primož Roglič of Red Bull Bora - Hansgrohe prior to the 79th La Vuelta Ciclista a España 2024 on August 15, 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal. (Photos by Miguel Reis/Getty Images)
I’m watching the visma documentary on the tdf 2024 and holy shit the way nathan talks about jonas and wout and how they are all crying I mean I’m crying too what the hell
Demi Vollering wins the final Queen Stage of La Vuelta Feminina in style, securing her general classification victory!
Plenty of other teams took their shots on this final Stage 8, but SD Worx-Protime rode for Vollering and delivered her to the bottom of the Valdesquí climb, and she did all the rest. Even Évita Muzic couldn't stay with her when Vollering attacked.
Vollering had plenty of time to vamp for the crowds and lift her bike high at the finish line. It's funny to think of any SD Worx, and Vollering least of all, as an "underdog,"but after a rough spring and some unusual team dynamics, it's nice to see her showing what she is--the best climber in the world right now. Perhaps it's fitting that she took the QOM jersey with her stage win, due to some unusual rule changes, although we would have been happy to see Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) hold on to it, given how hard she fought for it and how much she enlivened the whole race.
The Queen Stage also delivered a shuffle on the podium, as Riejanne Markus (Visma Lease-a-Bike) was able to to go with Muzic and put enough time into Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) to move from third to second. ELB seemed to be under pressure, but defended her podium place very well, even coming back to an atacking Juliette Labous (FDJ-Suez) on the climb.
In general, this was a great Vuelta, this race has a perfect spot on the calendar. We'll have more to say later this week!
YALL, THIS WARMS MY HEART 💓 GC WIN FOR JONAS AND ANOTHER STAGE WIN FOR OLAV IN POLAND AND THEN RED JERSEY FOR WOUT IN LA VUELTA THIS MADE ME SUPER HAPPY 🥺🫶💛🐝