Giro d'Italia Women 2026 Stage 5 - Demi Vollering claims first Giro stage win amid major GC shake-up, Anna van der Breggen remains in maglia rosa

Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ) powered to victory to claim her first Giro d’Italia Women stage win and move up to second in the general classification, while Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) retained the maglia rosa.

Labelled as the queen stage, it was a day which saw major changes in the leaderboard, with Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) and Marlen Reusser (Movistar) amongst those dropped, whilst Vollering, Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) and Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) moved up the standings.

A 20-plus rider breakaway formed almost from the official flag drop, with a composition of sprinters in Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) hoping to get a headstart, whilst domestiques including Valentina Cavallar (SD Worx-Protime), Nadia Gontova (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Britain’s Lauren Dickson (FDJ United-SUEZ).

Dickson spent large parts of the day in the virtual lead, but it was all for a greater cause as Vollering and FDJ United-SUEZ planned their stage, with Cery Gery also attacking the group with 60km to go on the Passo di Sant’Antonio (Cat. 1).

Marlen Reusser, who had lost over a minute to van der Breggen in Tuesday’s time trial attacked with 57.7km to go, but was quickly reeled back in – however, cracks were beginning to form in the shape of the back-to-back Giro champion Elisa Longo Borghini, who was dropped and forced to pace herself back into the group, which became a common theme during the stage.

With 42km to go, Demi Vollering made her first dig on the Costa (Cat. 3), creating a few bike lengths to split up the group of favourites, before joining up with her teammate Dickson, whose domestique duties put Reusser and Longo Borghini at risk as they dropped further behind of the group of leaders.

Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla Jayco) went in search of the stage on the descent as the Italian rider went in search of more time, growing her lead to over 40 seconds over the rest of the group, who had all come back together on the descent.

However, the second ascent of the Costa quickly saw Trinca Colonel reeled back in and dropped as European champion Vollering once again attacked with 20km to go to shrink the group of leaders to just four, joined by Antonia Niedermaier, Isabella Holmgren and maglia rosa Anna van der Breggen.

Whilst the maglia rosa attempted to distance herself on the descent, it would come down to a sprint between the four leaders, with Vollering launching her effort with 250m to go and overpowering the group to claim her first Giro victory, followed by Niedermaier and van der Breggen.

Defending champion Longo Borghini mitigated the damage by only losing 15 seconds, whilst Marlen Reusser finished seventh, 53 seconds behind.

Anna van der Breggen retained the leader’s jersey, whilst Vollering and Niedermaier completes the podium ahead of the final opportunity for the sprinters on Thursday.

After two challenging days in the mountains, it's time for the sprinters as Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) will almost certainly be targeting a fourth win in her home race, but could Lara Gillespie (UAE Team-ADQ), Chiara Consonni (Liv AlUla Jayco) or Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) disrupt those plans?

An almost entirely flat stage, tomorrow will be a welcome break to the peloton but they will still have to meander and navigate a tricky urban setting for the finish.

Be sure to join us to see how this one unfolds!

Here's the moment Demi Vollering unleashed her sprint to claim her first Giro d'Italia Women victory and move up to second in the general classification.

1. Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) 15:55:13

2. Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ) +1'00"

3. Antonia Niedermaier (CANYON-SRAM zondacrypto) +1'24"

4. Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) +2'01"

5. Marlen Reusser (Movistar) +2'03"

6. Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) +2'12"

7. Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) +2'33"

8. Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike) +2'38"

9. Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla Jayco) +3'21"

10. Urska Zigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) +3'26"

I’m very happy to take the victory here, it’s my first stage in the Giro so it’s a nice one.

Yeah, it was a really long and hard day. We started racing really early, we wanted to have some riders of our team in the breakaway and we managed to with Amber (Krakk) and Lauren (Dickson), like the plan which was perfect. They did such an amazing job. At one point before we came here on the last climb, I still had Lauren in front of me, so I managed to bridge and she did amazing work after on the last part and first part of the climb again. I maybe went a bit too early so I couldn’t make a difference on the climb. It was a really nice day, we really raced with everything we had and it was a real battle out there.

Tomorrow is like a flat stage, so probably something for the sprinters or the breakaway. Today was a big day, so tonight we will discuss tomorrow for sure.

1. Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ) 4:21:18

2. Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) ST

3. Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) ST

4. Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) +2"

5. Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) +15"

6. Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) +15"

7. Marlen Reusser (Movistar) +53"

8. Magdeleine Vallieres (EF Education-Oatly) "

9. Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike) "

10. Lore de Schepper (AG Insurance-Soudal) +56"

She was probably the favourite in that group but she manages to get the jump after Isabella Holgren (Lidl-Trek) attempted a second attack.

She manages to hold off the trio of riders by several bike lengths to claim her first win of the Giro d'Italia Women and claim the all important bonus seconds on the line.

Expect changes in the GC.

Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) is the first to attack but it's quickly shut down. It's followed by Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), again it's chased by Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime)

It's the German rider who has managed to close the gap on Van der Breggen, with Demi Vollering following.

Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) has lost a few bike lengths on the descent but she's still within touching distance and looks to be joining back up once again.

Interestingly, it's the maglia rosa who has decided to take it up at the front of the descent, as the quartet ease themselves around the hairpins on the tricky descent.

At one time, Vollering had to ease on the brakes after going in a tad too sharp and another few bike lengths grow between the riders.

The quartet remains a quartet following that descent, with the gaps for Elisa Longo Borghini and Marlen Reusser's group continuing to remain at 31" and 1'00".

There's a little uphill bit following the summit of Costa (Cat. 3) before the head of the race take on the descent to the finish line.

Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) can see the front four in front of her but can she bring herself back in time?

It's only down from here.

Anna van der Breggen retains her lead in the mountains jersey, picking up another seven points, whilst Vollering takes four points.

As the riders begin their descent, we can see that the gaps have increased on the second ascent of the Costa, with Elisa Longo Borghini tracking at 41" down and Marlen Reusser sitting at 56" down.

They'll look to get more time back on the descent but the stage win looks to be going to this quartet.

The maglia rosa has decided to go to the front of our four-rider group at the head of the race but will be wary of another attack from Demi Vollering.

With Marlen Reusser (Movistar) tracking at around 32" down, Vollering could move up a place, having also collected six bonus seconds in the intermediate sprint, whilst Antonia Niedermaier collects four to move up to third overall.

That was a short-lived attack from De Schepper as she is brought back quickly by Lauren Dickson, who is controlling things for Demi Vollering.

Just as Monica Trinca Colonel's advantage seems to have settled at 40", Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ) decides to attack once again and as a result, decimates the maglia rosa group with Elisa Longo Borghini and Marlen Reusser both distanced.

Trinca Colonel is shortly caught and dropped, with Vollering accompanied by Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) and Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime)

As Marlen Reusser (Movistar) and her chasing group rejoins the back of the maglia rosa group, there's an attack from Lore de Schepper (AG Insurance-Soudal) as she goes in search of the stage win and time.

Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla Jayco) remains at the head of the race with around a 40" lead over the chasing group of favourites.

The Italian (Liv AlUla Jayco) had an impressive time trial yesterday and she's going in search of more time as she has decided to go ahead of the maglia rosa group on the descent.

Elsewhere, Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ) collected maximum points on the QOM Costa (Cat. 3) climb.

Anna van der Breggen remains leader of the Queen of the Mountains classification, four points ahead of her teammate Valentina Cavallar.

1. Demi Vollering 7pts

2. Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) 4pts

3. Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) 3pts

4. Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) 1pt

The defending champion (UAE Team ADQ) has rejoined the head of the race thanks to that descent and it seems like Lauren Dickson (FDJ United-SUEZ) and Nadia Gontova (Liv AlUla Jayco) will also rejoin to help their teammates.

Marlen Reusser's group appear to have brought back some time on the descent as it reduces to 30" and she's in good company with Urska Zigart, Lore De Schepper (AG Insurance-Soudal), Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek), Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease a Bike), Magdeleine Vallieres (EF Education-Oatly).