Paula Blasi Becomes The First Spanish Winner Of La Vuelta Femenina After A Career-Defining Final-Day Turnaround On L'Angliru
Paula Blasi has produced one of the most remarkable final-day turnarounds in modern stage racing to win the 2026 La Vuelta Femenina, overhauling an eighteen-second deficit on Anna van der Breggen across the closing kilometres of the Alto de L'Angliru. The UAE Team ADQ climber crossed the line in second behind stage winner Petra Stiasny but, crucially, in front of the Dutch race leader, taking the maglia roja by a final margin of 24 seconds.
The Spaniard becomes the first home winner in the four-edition history of the modernised Women's WorldTour Vuelta, and at twenty-five years old joins an emerging generation reshaping the climbing ranks of women's racing. Marion Bunel completed the podium 49 seconds back, putting in the strongest Vuelta of her career, while Van der Breggen's bid for a fourth Grand Tour title was undone in the final kilometre of the hardest mountain in professional cycling.
For most of the 132.9-kilometre stage from Pola de Laviana, the race had looked written. Van der Breggen, riding a deliberately measured tempo with two SD Worx-Protime teammates, controlled every move on the Cobertoria and the Cordal, marking Blasi at every flicker. The Spaniard's twin-card attack on the Cordal yielded nothing — Van der Breggen closed her down inside half a kilometre, and the pair crested the descent together with a thirty-rider front group still intact.
It was at the foot of the Angliru that the race finally cracked open. Petra Stiasny launched a long-range solo from twelve kilometres out, riding clear on the slopes of Las Cabanas before Cueña Les Cabres came into view. With four kilometres to ride, Blasi reduced the front group to two — herself and Van der Breggen — and the Dutchwoman finally began to suffer on the 23.5%-peak ramps. The decisive blow landed on a steep hairpin with just over two kilometres to climb, Blasi accelerating in the saddle as Van der Breggen lost contact, and from there the Spaniard rode away to the title.
Stiasny's stage victory — a first WorldTour win for the twenty-four-year-old and a first Grand Tour stage for Human Powered Health — was equally historic, making her the first woman to win atop the Angliru since the climb's introduction to the women's calendar. Her 23-second margin on Blasi at the line was the only thing standing between the Spaniard and a stage-and-overall double.
Blasi also sealed the queen of the mountains classification on a race-deciding final climb that has now reshaped the women's GC pecking order ahead of the Giro d'Italia Donne in July. With Demi Vollering absent from the start list to manage her post-spring workload, the door was open — but the manner of Blasi's win, executed on the most punishing climb the discipline visits, will be the headline takeaway from a Vuelta that ultimately confirmed Spain's first home winner of the modern era.
For Van der Breggen, second place after leading into the final morning will sting, but the Dutchwoman's return to GC racing in her comeback season has been the broader story of the spring. Her form curve points toward a strong Tour de France Femmes build, where she is expected to lead SD Worx-Protime alongside Lotte Kopecky. For UAE Team ADQ, Blasi's victory delivers the squad's first Grand Tour title and immediately reframes the team's leadership balance into the second half of the season.