Stage 7 of La Vuelta Feminina was almost tailor-made for Marianne Vos (Visma Lease-a-Bike), an uphill drag after a long day in the cross-winds. What can we say about the greatest of all time, she knows how to get there safely and has the snap to finish. And her team controlled the breakaways, including a decently strong one spurred by Olympic champ Anna Kiesenhofer (Roland).
Vos was in good position heading into the final left-hander, right behind Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek). The group was headed by Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Cannondale), who had a nice lead-out from teammate Alison Jackson and then hammered the climb. Faulkner would take second on the stage, despite doing a lot of work on the front. Her climbing ability reminds us that she took second in the Tour de Suisse in 2022. It's nice to see such a new team like EF so active in this Vuelta.
Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) started out of position (what is going on with that team?) but closed to fourth on the stage, right behind ELB, so the GC is unchanged going into the final mountaintop stage.
