Heading into La Vuelta Femenina, Mavi Garcia was the Liv Alula Jayco athlete expected to perform at her best on GC. She said her goal is to finish in the top five overall, and while the 40-year-old Spanish champion may not be in great shape, the team has 25-year-old Ingvild Gåskjenn on the rise. [He finished fifth in Saturday's Vuelta Femenina stage 7, moving up to 13th overall and 5:13 behind race leader Demi Vollering (SD Works Pro Time). Garcia was 17th overall, 6:36 behind.

"I am so proud of these girls. They protected me all day. I was able to cover most of the attacks in the last part of the race. I was able to cover most of the attacks at the end of the day. They kept turning all day, holding the gap and setting me up perfectly for the sprint. That run deserved more than fifth place, but I had it today," Gorsken said after the stage.

Garcia and Gorsken were unable to make the lead group on stage 4, but on Saturday they, along with teammates Georgia Baker and Silke Smulders, were more attentive.

The team applied the lessons learned earlier in the week to stage 7, with the Norwegians gaining time on Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM) and Sara Gigante (AG Insurance-Surdal) and pulling away from them in the overall standings with great success.

Gorsken, who finished fourth and fifth in the sprints of stages 2 and 3, showed his versatility in the summit finishes of stages 5 and 6, finishing in the top 20 both times and continuing to move up in the GC standings.

At age 18, she joined the Norwegian Continental team Hitec Products (now Coop-Repsol) and after six seasons there, signed with Jayco-AlUla in 2023; in the spring of 2024, she finished third in the Amstel Gold Race, a hilly classic She made her breakthrough in the world of hill classics.

This week, the 25-year-old is putting her talents on display in the stage race as well, and is one to watch in the final stage of La Vuelta Femenina from Madrid to the Valdes Ski Resort.