Vuelta España Femenina 2026 – Stage 7 [FULL STAGE] (ladies)

May 9, 2026

12th Vuelta España Femenina by Carrefour.es 2026 🇪🇸 (2.WWT) WE – Stage 7 – La Pola Llaviana/Pola de Laviana – L’Angliru : 132,9 km

Vuelta España Femenina is a UCI Women’s WorldTour classification that unfolds across the diverse and demanding landscapes of Spain, where the roads weave through a tapestry of towering mountains, arid plateaus, and coastal plains, each stage presenting a unique challenge that tests the limits of endurance, strategy, and skill. The terrain varies dramatically, from the steep, jagged climbs of the Pyrenees and Sierra Nevada to the rolling hills of the interior and the fast, wind-swept roads along the Mediterranean coast. The mountain stages are the race’s centerpiece, featuring long, grueling ascents with gradients that often exceed 10% for kilometers at a time, their slopes lined with spectators who cheer as the peloton fractures under the relentless pressure. The descents are fast and technical, their tight switchbacks and loose gravel demanding precision and courage, while the flatter stages are far from straightforward, with narrow roads, sudden crosswinds, and echelons forming as riders fight for position. The race dynamics shift with each stage, from the high-speed sprints of the opening days to the tactical battles in the medium mountains, where attacks launch on the steepest ramps and the peloton thins to a select group of climbers. The final stages often decide the overall classification, with summit finishes on iconic climbs that push riders to their absolute limits, the outcome hanging in the balance until the final, lung-bursting meters.

Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ) took second place on the mythical climb of the Alto de L’Angliru to win the general classification on the final day of La Vuelta Femenina as Petra Stiasny (Human Powered Health) soloed home to win stage 7.

Juliette Berthet (FDJ United-Suez) outsprinted Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease a Bike) for third place, 43 seconds down. Overnight GC leader Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) struggled on the climb and finished 59 seconds behind in fifth place, losing the red jersey to Blasi on the final stage.

From the early breakaway, Liane Lippert (Movistar) lasted the longest on the lower slopes of L’Angliru, staying in the lead until 5.4km to go, well into the steepest part of the climb. Stiasny had taken the lead of the group of favourites 6.2km from the finish, and when she passed Lippert, only Berthet, Blasi, Van der Breggen, and Bunel were still on her wheel.

4.5km from the finish, Bunel pushed past Stiasny and got a small gap, and at the 4km mark, Van der Breggen had to let Blasi go. The Spaniard made her way back to Bunel before dropping her with 3.5km to go, but Stiasny found her second wind and started to chase back, eventually passing Blasi on a steep hairpin with just over 2km to go.

From there on, the Swiss climber only increased her advantage and took the biggest win of her career so far, while Blasi could also raise her arms on the line as the overall winner.

“It was crazy for us today. It was full of attacks, and we’ve been racing for six days. I was not really feeling at my best, but the team did an amazing job, and I can only be grateful for them, really,” said Blasi.

Despite finished runner-up on the stage, Blasi suffered on L’Angliru.

“The best thing I could do was just not think about it. I knew it would be about 50 minutes, and already 5 minutes into the climb, I was on the limit. So I said, ‘just keep going, keep your pace, as long as you can go like this, you stay’. If I had gone over my limit, I would have stopped [pushing], but then I started seeing Anna van der Breggen struggling, and I said ‘let’s go for it’,” explained Blasi.

How it unfolded
Covering 132.9km, the final stage was the longest of the race and included three classified climbs ahead of the mythical finishing climb of L’Angliru.

Lidl-Trek tried to split the peloton on the first climb, the Alto de Santo Emiliano, but it was Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal) who was first over the top to take the virtual lead in the mountain classification.

After the descent, Femke Markus (SD Worx-Protime) broke away and was soon joined by her sister Riejanne Markus (Lidl-Trek). Lippert eventually bridged across to make it a front group of three.

Their advantage went out to over four minutes atop the Alto de La Tejera with 57.8km to go where Moolman-Pasio squirreled away the last remaining point from the peloton.

The gap came down slowly until Mavi García (UAE Team ADQ) began to set the pace on the second-category Alto del Tenebredo, reducing the breakaway’s advantage to only 1:15 minutes at the top, 35.2km from the finish. Moolman-Pasio again took the remaining mountain points to bring her total to 22, but the South African climber would eventually finish runner-up in the mountain classification after being dropped early on L’Angliru.

With the peloton not pushing on after the climb, the escapees could extend their advantage again, reaching 2:36 minutes at the 20km mark. At the intermediate sprint in Las Mazas, Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) stayed on the wheel of Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez) to make sure the German champion would not pass her in the points classification. Kopecky succeeded and would win the green jersey in the end.

When the finishing climb started, the break was still 1:40 minutes up the road. Riejanne Markus immediately dropped back, and less than a kilometre later, Lippert also dropped Femke Markus to go solo.

In the peloton, Koch did one last turn at the front, then Uno-X Mobility’s Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset took over with her teammate Katrine Aalerud in her wheel. Lippert started the steep final 7.4km of the climb still 1:15 minutes ahead, but when Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) started setting the pace at the front of a peloton of 20 to 25 riders, that gap began to melt quickly.

When Stiasny relieved Realini at the front of the group, only Blasi, Valentina Cavallar (SD Worx-Protime), Van der Breggen, Berthet, Bunel, and Barbara Malcotti (Human Powered Health) were still hanging on, with Maud Oudeman (Visma-Lease a Bike), Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Premier Tech), Évita Muzic (FDJ United-Suez), and Nienke Vinke (SD Worx-Protime) struggling and losing ground.

Soon, only Cavallar, Blasi, Berthet, Van der Breggen, and Bunel remained with Stiasny, and Cavallar was dropped not long after the group passed Lippert.

Bunel’s acceleration put Van der Breggen into difficulties, and the red jersey soon lost contact with Blasi who was now chasing the Frenchwoman up the steep slopes. Blasi eventually reached Bunel and dropped her to take the lead, but Stiasny steadily reduced the gap to Blasi, going past her on the steeper inside lane of a hairpin turn with just over 2km to go.

Further back, Van der Breggen was struggling and even had to let her teammate Cavallar go, though she would recover towards the end and pass Cavallar again. At the highest point of the climb with about 700 metres to go, Stiasny was 22 seconds ahead of Blasi and kept this advantage on the slight downhill to the finish. Berthet went past Bunel in the descent to take third place, moving up to fifth place overall, but Bunel kept her place on the GC podium and won the white U23 jersey.

Usoa Ostolaza (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) managed her effort well to finish eighth on the stage and climb to fourth place overall. On top of the general classification, Blasi also won the mountain classification while SD Worx-Protime won the team classification.

Results :

Final General Classification :