Demi Vollering clinched the Vuelta Femenina title as she won the final stage of this year’s race on Sunday.
The SD Worx-Protime rider carried a 52-second advantage into stage eight – an 89km mountain stage from Madrid to the Valdesqui ski resort.
And Vollering, last year’s Tour de France winner, attacked 6.5km from the summit finish to go clear and comfortably secure her second stage win of the week.
Evita Muzic crossed the line 29 seconds later, four seconds ahead of Riejanne Markus.
That proved enough for the Dutch Visma-Lease a Bike rider to take second place in the general classification standings from Elisa Longo Borghini.
Italian Lidl-Trek rider Borghini lost 68 seconds to Vollering on Sunday to finish third overall, with Muzic’s performance giving the Frenchwoman a top-five GC finish.
Vollering missed out on last year’s Vuelta Femenina title by just nine seconds to Dutch compatriot Annemiek van Vleuten.
“I’m really happy to win this stage because it’s really nice to finish it off like this,” said the 27-year-old.
“We did a really good tour here – [earned] some podiums and two stage wins – so I think we can be very proud of ourselves.
“It’s a good start [to the season]. I hope I can do some other stage races and I’m really looking forward to the rest to the season.”