Giro d’Italia Women Stage 5: Vollering Got the Win, Van der Breggen Proved She’s the Boss

Demi Vollering got the stage win but Anna van der Breggen proved she’s the boss of this Giro d’Italia Women.

In a battle of the Dutch superstars, Vollering won a reduced bunch sprint to win Wednesday’s “queen stage” across the heart of the Dolomites from Longarone to Sante Stefano di Cadore.

“I am very happy to take my first victory at the Giro Women. It was a hard day, the start was fast and the main group was selected early,” Vollering said. “Let’s see what will happen on Saturday, we have to avoid risks in the next two days.”

The win is her first at Giro Women, and her 63rd pro victory.

Vollering also becomes just the third woman to complete the grand tour stage sweep, of winning at least one stage in Giro Women (since 1988), Tour de France Femmes (since 2022) and Vuelta Espana Femenina (since 2023). The others? Marianne Vos and Lotte Kopecky.

Vollering shaved a few seconds off Van der Breggen’s lead thanks to time bonuses, and remains second overall at 1:00 back. Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-Sram) climbed into third overall 1:24 back.

Van der Breggen takes control

But it was Van der Breggen, who started in pink, who stomped her authority on the race.

With the pink jersey in play, it all came down on the final passage of the Costa climb.

Marlen Reusser (Movistar), who struggled earlier in the stage, was jettisoned from the favorite’s group to lose grip on the podium. Two-time defending champion Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) also could not hold the wheel.

Setting the brutal pace was 36-year-old Van der Breggen of SD Worx-Protime, who started in pink after winning Tuesday’s climbing time trial and raced with determination to fend off all challengers in the brutal stage.

“It was a tough stage. There were attacks from all sides. Movistar knew that we only have a small team here and attacked constantly,” Van der Breggen said. “I couldn’t chase down every breakaway, so when the big group went clear, it was a moment of ‘pick your battles’. That’s why it was great that we had Valentina Cavallar in that move. When everything came back together, she was a big help up front.”

The strong climbers — Vollering, Niedermaier, and Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) — grimaced and held on.

After a false flat, a fast 10km descent to the line set up the reduced bunch sprint.

Van der Breggen sliced confidently down the narrow descent to defend pink and put her stamp on this Giro. Vollering got the jump for the win, and Van der Breggen trailed across second to defend the maglia rosa.

Covering the attacks

Despite two first-category monsters front-loaded in the stage, it was the double passage of the Costa climb (4.3km at 8.6%) that blew up the race.

An early break was reeled in coming into the first passage, with Vollering and Van der Breggen driving the selection. Longo-Borghini was forced to chase the wheel after being dropped, and Reusser was gapped at 45 seconds back.

Monica Trinca Colonel (Jayco-Alula) attacked on the descent to nurse a 44-second lead on the bell lap with 22km to go. Reusser regained contact with the leaders just in time for the final Costa ascent.

Van der Breggen was marking all the moves and making sure no one could gain an inch. She soon buried the hammer and dropped everyone except the three strongest climbers.

After finishing second overall at the Vuelta Femenina, Van der Breggen took an important step toward victory after consolidating her lead at Giro Women.

Faulkner on early attack across Dolomites

Wednesday served up the queen stage of the 2026 Giro d’Italia Women, with a brutal 146km route packed with climbing and expected fireworks.

The peloton tackled 3,400m over the Passo Tre Croci, Passo Sant’Antonio, and a punishing double ascent of Costa in what promised to be a decisive day in the battle for the maglia rosa.

Tuesday’s Nevegal time trial delivered the first major shake-up of the general classification, with Van der Breggen riding into the race lead.

Marlen Reusser started Wednesday second at 1:04, with Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) in third at 1:10.

Racing under perfect conditions across the heart of the Dolomites, American double Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner made the day’s main breakaway.

After 62km of racing over the day’s first climb at Tre Croce, a group of 20 riders carved out a 3:30 gap.

FDJ United-Suez upped the chase and erased the gap coming down Passo di Sant’Antonio, setting up the wild attacks on the first of two passages up the Costa climb.

Things calm down Thursday for the 160km stage 6 from Ala to Brescello. After dropping out of the mountains, it’s almost dead flat for what should be another bunch kick.

Giro d’Italia Women Stage 5 results