Vollering confirms his reign at the Volta a Catalunya
June 7 th 2025 - 15:52 [GMT + 2]
Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) has made good on her status as favourite in the second women's edition of the Volta a Catalunya with an exhibition in the second stage, a day of high mountains starting from Bagà and finishing at the top of La Molina/Coll de Pal. The Dutch rider finished off a duel with the young French rider Marion Bunel (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) on the very hard Berguedà pass after a 72.9-kilometre route with three mountain passes that left the overall classification in Vollering's favour, who took the lead before the final day between Castelldefels and Barcelona.
96 cyclists have taken the start of this second stage of the Volta a Catalunya, which in its early stages has had Stine Dale (Team Coop-Repsol) as the main protagonist. The Norwegian has escaped alone in the first attacks to crown the passes of the Coll de Merolla (2nd category) and Collet de Cal Ros (1st category), the first two points-scoring passes of the day.
The big change of script came on the climb to the Collet de Cal Ros, some 45 kilometers from the finish line, when once again the FDJ-Suez team of leader Elise Chabbey started the counter-attacks from the peloton with Loes Adegeest. Finally, a group with Nina Buijsman (FDJ-Suez), Rosita Reijnhout (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Marit Raijmakers (Human Powered Health), Alice Maria Arzuffi (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Maud Rijnbeek (VolkerWessels) and India Grangier (Team Coop-Repsol) managed to connect with Stine Dale at the head of the race, forming a breakaway group that held on until the first ramps of the ascent to the Coll de Pal.Everything would be decided in the 19.1 kilometers with a 7% average gradient of the Berguedà pass, a high altitude challenge at over 2,100 meters that would put the great climbers of the Volta a Catalunya to the test.
Once the breakaway was caught and after her FDJ-Suez started to set the pace, Demi Vollering made good on the predictions and broke the race with an attack 10.5 kilometers from the summit that left her alone with the young French rider Marion Bunel (Team Visma-Lease a Bike). It was not until the last kilometer that the Dutch rider was able to go solo with a spectacular change of pace to take a stage victory that takes her to the lead of the race with 2'08‘ ahead of her teammate Elise Chabbey, winner yesterday in Reus, and 2'29’ above her.
Demi Vollering will have to consolidate her final victory in the Volta a Catalunya on Sunday 8 June in the final stage, which will link Castelldefels and the city of Barcelona on a 114-kilometre route. The Dutch rider, who arrived in Catalonia in a good form after winning La Vuelta Femenina and the Itzulia Women, can become the second name to inscribe her name in the women's race of the Volta, taking over from her compatriot Marianne Vos.
