Demi Vollaring is carrying the red leader's jersey ahead of the final stage of La Vuelta Femenina, with a clear gap to second place. [In particular, second-placed Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) shows no signs of conceding early.

The Italian champion's coup de grace on the final stage is certainly a disadvantage for Volering, who is the only rider within a minute of Volering in the overall standings and has a crash-depleted team to close the gap. Nevertheless, the five-man Lidl-Trek team remained aggressive on Saturday's stage 7, when crosswinds blew in.

As a result, Longo Borghini finished third in the stage, which may have only closed the 56-second gap to Vollaring by a few seconds, but proved that the riders and team were not interested in pulling punches.

"The girls covered well and tried to attack on their own," Longo Borghini said.

"I tried to stay with Faulkner, I tried to go hard from 300 meters," said Vos. Marianne Vos took the stage win, finishing just behind Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Cannondale) in second place.

A cautious Vollaring finished just behind fourth-place Longo Borghini. That gave the Italian challenger a four-second bonus for finishing third and gaining ground on GC, but not by any additional time.

Vollering heads into the final stage with a 52-second advantage over his closest rival in the overall; the only riders within 2 minutes are Lienne Marx (Visma-Lease a Bike), 1:14 back, and Juliette Rabas (dsm firmenich-Post NL ) only. Vollering's teammate Niamh Fischer-Black is fifth, Evita Mujic (FDJ-Suez) is sixth, Faulkner is seventh, and Marlen Reusser, also of SD Worx-Protime, is eighth, with the top 10 more than two minutes behind. Ricarda Bauernfind (Canyon-SRAM) and Jara Castellaine (Phoenix-Deceuninck) round out the top 10, with Castellaine in 4:07. 2023, Vollering is in second place behind three-time consecutive winner Annemiek van Fluten, with 89-km race and will be in a strong position, especially given the team's strength and the terrain. Sunday's stage 7 includes two Category 1 climbs, the final 12.8 km to Valdeschi Madrid with an average gradient of 4.8%.

"I think this stage suits me. I haven't worked out the details yet, but it's going to be a hard stage and that's good for me," Volering said. Castelline and Longo Borghini rounded out the podium after finishing first in the summit finish of stage 5. I think Yara Castellane has already shown her strength, as did Evita Mujic yesterday," Vollering said. And Elisa Longo Borghini can never be underestimated."