La Vuelta Femenina Stage 5 LIVE - Victory for dominant Demi Vollering as strong FDJ SUEZ impress to take red jersey

Demi Vollering (FDJ SUEZ) put in a devastating display of climbing dominance to win stage 5 at La Vuelta Espana Femenina on Thursday. She finished 24 seconds ahead of the second-placed rider, Marlen Reusser (Movistar) and almost a minute ahead of yesterday's stage winner, Anna van der Breggen (Team SD Worx-ProTime), to confirm herself as the woman to beat at this year’s race.

Vollering’s team set a brutal tempo up the first of the day’s two categorised climbs to shred the peloton, and their savage pace-setting continued on the final ascent to Lagunas de Neila, reducing the group to only six riders before Vollering launched her race-winning move just under three kilometres from the summit. From there, the Dutchwoman distanced the rest, setting a steady pace that ensured her rivals weren’t able to pull her back, taking the stage win and control of the red jersey in the process.

Emotional at the finish, Vollering dedicated her victory to young people suffering with mental health struggles, defining herself not just as a top competitor, but as an outspoken advocate for mental health awareness.

Vollering will begin the penultimate stage of the race in the red jersey, with a 45-second advantage over her closest rival, her former sports director and coach van der Breggen.

Many thanks for choosing to follow our live commentary for today's stage of La Vuelta Espana Feminina. We hope you've enjoyed following along - it's been an amazing day of racing.

Join us again tomorrow, as the sprinters get their final shot at victory on the penultimate stage, which takes the peloton 126.7km from Becerril de Campos to Baltanás.

Demi Vollering was emotional in her post-race interview. She said: 'I feel good. I'm really happy to win this stage. And yeah, I'm very proud of the work we did as a team. This day is a little bit more difficult; someone close to me goes through a really hard time mentally, and I see that too much around me, young people struggle, so today, I did everything I could because mentally I know I'm very strong, because my mentality, I can win beautiful races. But some people, their mentality, their brain, is bit too strong, in the wrong direction, and they struggle and suffer so much with their mental health. And it's still such a unknown problem in this world. So, today my win was a sacrifice for all the people who have a really hard time mentally.'

The GC hasn't just altered slightly after today's stage - it's been completely blown apart. At the beginning of the stage just 30 seconds separated the top 10 and now, it's almost 3 minutes, as Vollering put in an absolutely monster performance on the final climb to shake out the standings behind her.

1. Demi Vollering (FDJ SUEZ)

2. Anna van der Breggen (Team SD Worx-ProTime) +45

3. Marlen Reusser (Movistar) +46

4. Cedrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) +1:49

5. Riejanne Markus (Lidl-Trek) +2:05

6. Juliette Labous (FDJ SUEZ) +2:09

7. Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) +2:19

8. Usoa Ostolaza (Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi) +2:26

9. Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) +2:35

10. Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) +2:57

1. Demi Vollering (FDJ SUEZ)

2. Marlen Reusser (Movistar)

3. Anna van der Breggen (Team SD Worx-ProTime)

4. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck)

5. Usoa Ostolaza (Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi)

6. Cedrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly)

7. Marion Bunel (Team Visma-Lease a Bike)

8. Juliette Labous (FDJ SUEZ)

9. Riejanne Markus (Lidl-Trek)

10. Valentina Cavallar (Arkea-B&B Hotels)

Vollering sits on the ground and is joined by Juliette Labous, recovering from their immense effort. It was a truly impressive team performance today, and one which other teams are going to struggle to find an answer to as the season goes on. As far as this race is concerned, the team will take control of the race for the final two stages and though tomorrow's stage is flat, Vollering will hope to use the final mountain test on Saturday to confirm her supremacy at this race.

Vollering rides over the finish line and taps her head. She's put on a masterclass today and her teammates put in an incredible effort on her behalf. But Vollering rose to the occasion, putting in a supreme climbing performance to take the stage win and the race lead.

Reusser comes in second and van der Breggen is third. Rooijakkers finishes fourth.

She's closing in on a really significant victory and it's a turning point in the race - can Vollering take the red jersey all the way to the finish, with two stages remaining?

Behind van der Breggen, Rooijakkers closes in, in fourth place.

1000m of climbing stands between Vollering and a stage win and a red jersey. The gap to Reusser hasn't increased - the Swiss is looking solid in second. Van der Breggen slips to 42 seconds.

Vollering's face shows that she's working very hard, and she's not putting any additional time into the chasers, but equally, she's not losing any.

Now the gap to van der Breggen begins to open out - she slides from 30 to 37 seconds back. Reusser's deficit is now up to 23 seconds.

This is impressive stuff from Demi Vollering. The gradient is leg-breakingly steep here but she continues to eke out an advantage over Reusser who gives chase, 20 seconds in arrears. Anna van der Breggen is third on the road, 30 seconds behind Vollering, as Fisher-Black and Kerbaol drop back.

It's go time for Demi Vollering - she kicks on at the front and the only rider able to stay with her is Reusser. Now Vollering moves clear on her own - Reusser can't hold her wheel.

This could be the race-winning move.

Van der Breggen rides at the head of the group as they catch and pass Meijering. Just as she is caught, Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) attacks - she is a big threat, and having gone head-to-head with her up Alpe d'Huez at last year's Tour de France Femmes ave Zwift, Vollering will be well aware of her class.

Speaking of the Tour de France Femmes, the reigning champion, Niewiadoma, is the next rider to be dropped. It's a tiny group now - just six or seven riders left, including Marlen Reusser (Movistar), Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek), Vollering, van der Breggen and Kerbaol. Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease a Bike) is distanced slightly.

Rooijakkers is caught.

The first riders from the select GC group begin to lose touch as the gradient increases - Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ) and Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek) fall away, as at the front of the race, Meijering is swinging.

Juliette Labous attacks - a great move for FDJ SUEZ, as it forces van der Breggen to chase.

Evita Muzic sets the pace, but Demi Vollering is quite far back in the group. She begins to work her way up to the front now on the wheel of Juliette Labous.

The gap falls back down to 35 seconds, and the group will shortly catch Mischa Bredewold.

The final climb of Lagunas de Neila has begun, and rather than close down Mareille Meijering, the Dutchwoman is actually opening up her gap, with 53 seconds over the chasing bunch.

Mischa Bredewold continues to labor alone in between the leader and the chase group.

It's easier said than done, and Bredewold is stuck in no-man's land at the moment - though it may not be her plan to bridge to Meijering, rather she may just be serving as a satellite rider for van der Breggen. She is currently 30 seconds behind Meijering, with the peloton a further 17 seconds or so behind.

Bredewold is closed down once, but you can't keep a good woman down - the Amstel Gold Race winner attacks again, and this time FDJ SUEZ don't give chase immediately. They won't want to give her too much space, especially if she can bridge to Meijering to form a breakaway duo.