Paula Blasi started Saturday’s finale of the 2026 Vuelta Femenina in second, 18 seconds behind legendary Dutch racer Anna van der Breggen. Overturning a substantial advantage to a star like van der Breggen is no small ask, but anything can happen on a day like the seventh and final brutal stage up to L’Angliru summit. And Blasi is proving that she is no ordinary rider.
Just weeks after claiming a stunning win at Amstel Gold, the UAE Team ADQ rider again upset the favourites. While Petra Stiasny (Human Powered Health) would win the stage, the GC standings were upended on L’Angliru. Van der Breggen, racing in the red jersey of the race leader, pushed the pace early on the fearsome slopes of the 1,550m ascent. Blasi held her own pace, then attacked, putting 36 seconds into van der Breggen by the finish line.
“It was crazy fast today, it was full of attacks,” Blasi told cameras after the finish line. “I wasn’t really feeling on my best, but the team did a great job and I can only be grateful for them.”
L’Angliru looms: “The best thing I could do was just not think about it.”
Blasi admitted that early on in the final climb up L’Angliru, she wasn’t feeling confident.
“The best thing I could do was just not think about it. I knew it would be about 15 minutes and five minutes in I was already hurting,” Blasi recalled. “I said, just keep going, just keep on your pace as long as you can go like this, you’ll stay. I started seeing Anna van der Breggen struggling and I thought, let’s go for it.”
That patience paid off. The UAE rider earns her first Grand Tour overall victory. Just weeks after claiming her first Monument, it’s been quite the spring for Blasi.
Asked what she would have thought if someone told her two months ago that she would soon be the winner of not only the Vuelta Femenina but also Amstel Gold, Blasi just laughed. “I would have thought you were joking”
The results are real, and the rest of the peloton is waking up to the threat the UAE Team ADQ rider poses any time she lines up for a start.
Van dam makes it home
Canada’s Sarah Van Dam finished Saturday’s stage in 26th, 5:48 back of the stage winner. It’s an impressive result for the Canadian, coming the day after a heavy crash on Friday’s sixth stage. That puts the Team Visma-Lease A Bike rider’s final GC result up to 23rd overall.
That concludes a trying finish to what started as a sensational Vuelta for the Canadian. Van Dam finished third on the third stage, and was in contention for several other stages before her effort was derailed by Friday’s crash.
Van Dam’s Visma teammate, Marion Bunel, finishes third overall, 49 seconds behind Blasi.
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