Paula Blasi wins women’s Vuelta a Espana to secure first Grand Tour
Spanish cyclist Paula Blasi secured her first Grand Tour title by winning the women’s Vuelta a Espana on the punishing slopes of L’Angliru.
The 23-year-old UAE Team ADQ rider began the final day second in the general classification behind the Netherlands’ Anna van der Breggen.
However, the former athletics competitor managed to drop the four-time Giro d’Italia champion on the vicious final ascent, which features gradients of up to 23%.
Crossing the line in second place behind stage winner Petra Stiasny was enough to hand the home favourite the overall crown.
A brutal decider on L’Angliru
The tour’s decisive moment arrived just four kilometres from the summit of one of cycling’s most notoriously difficult climbs.
French rider Marion Bunel launched a fierce attack that only the eventual champion could follow, leaving the struggling race leader behind.
This historic stage marked the very first time the feared Asturias road had been included in the women’s edition of the Spanish tour.
“It was crazy,” Blasi said of the climb after her victory. “The best thing I could do was not think about it.”
“I knew it would be about 50 minutes and so I said, ‘just keep going, keep on your pace’.”
“But I started to see Anna struggling and I said ‘let’s go for it’.”
From injury heartache to cycling elite
This remarkable triumph cements the Spaniard’s status as a formidable emerging talent within the women’s professional peloton.
She only began cycling competitively in 2024 after a severe injury forced her to prematurely end her promising athletics career.
Her rapid rise to the top follows an impressive victory at the Amstel Gold Race and strong showings across the Ardennes classics earlier this season.
Reporters asked the new champion how she would have reacted if someone had predicted this result just months ago.
“I would think you were joking,” she said.
Vuelta Femenina final results
- 1. Paula Blasi (SPA/UAE Team AQQ) 22hrs 17mins 3secs
- 2. Anna van der Breggen (NED/Team SD Worx-Protime) +24 secs
- 3. Marion Bunel (FRA/Team Visma Lease a Bike) +49secs
- 4. Usoa Ostolaza (SPA/Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi) +2 mins 31secs
- 5. Juliette Berthet (FRA/FDJ United-SUEZ) +2 mins 36 secs
- 6. Urska Zigart (SLO/AG Insurance-Soudal Team) +2mins 43 secs
- 7. Monica Tinca Colonel (ITA/Liv AlUla Jayco) +2mins 51 secs
- 8. Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (POL/Canyon/Sram zondacrypto) +3 mins 6secs
- 9. Barbara Malcotti (ITA/Human Powered Health) +3mins 50 secs
- 10. Evita Muzic (FRA/ FDJ United-Suez) +3mins 55 secs