Blasi dropped Van der Breggen on the final climb to leapfrog the 36-year-old on the GC.
By Jacob Whitehead and Jessica Hopkins
Paula Blasi secured the 2026 Vuelta Espana Feminina title with a remarkable solo performance on the Alto de l’Angliru on Saturday.
The 23-year-old Spaniard, who joined UAE Team ADQ only last year, finished second on the decisive 132.9-kilometer stage after distancing race leader Anna van der Breggen on the final climb, moving to the top of the general classification with a 24-second lead.
Blasi also took home the queen of the mountains jersey. Meanwhile, Lotte Kopecky claimed the points jersey, and Marion Bunel was named best young rider.
Saturday marked the first time the women’s professional peloton had ever tackled the infamous 12.4-kilometer Angliru—where Joao Almeida held off Jonas Vingegaard in September’s men’s race—featuring a brutal average gradient of 9.7 percent and peaks of up to 23 percent.
This victory was Blasi’s second of an impressive year, following a surprise win at Amstel Gold in the spring. She was joined on the podium by Van der Breggen and 21-year-old Marion Bunel.
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Blasi’s stage win came by 23 seconds, having entered Saturday with only one professional victory—last year’s Grand Prix Boquerón nine-kilometer time trial. She was part of a small group that caught a breakaway consisting of Riejanne Markus (Lidl – Trek), Femke Markus (SD Worx – Protime), and Liane Lippert (Movistar) on the Angliru.
SD Worx’s Anna van der Breggen started the final stage as the GC leader after a strong stage win the day before, dropping everyone on the final climb to gain an 18-second lead. Blasi finished eight seconds behind her, the only rider able to match the 36-year-old’s acceleration.
The stage was wide open, with the top 20 in the GC separated by less than three minutes and five riders within a minute of each other heading into the final day.
**A Leap Into Cycling’s True Elite**
*Analysis by Jacob Whitehead*
Blasi’s rise has been meteoric. Last year, the former duathlete spent most of her first professional season with UAE’s development team. There was little indication she would perform at this level so soon—she finished sixth in the 2025 Tour de l’Avenir, behind riders who have yet to make a mark at this elite tier.
The Ardennes campaign signaled her breakthrough, turning her into cycling’s “it girl” with an unexpected victory at Amstel Gold—a race she was not even scheduled to enter due to team illness. As the last survivor of the breakaway, she held off fast-charging stars Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewadoma-Phinney to take a solo win. Subsequent top-five finishes at Fleche Wallone and Liege-Bastogne-Liege proved the result was no fluke.
But winning La Vuelta—and sealing it on the fearsome Angliru—represented not just another step, but a leap into cycling’s true elite.
Blasi has already shown versatility across terrains, including time trials, and as a Grand Tour winner at age 23, few races now remain where she is not a genuine contender. Vollering remains the season’s standout rider, but Blasi now deserves a place on the next tier, alongside riders like Niewadoma-Phinney and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, both of whom were defeated here.
**Final Stage Top Five**
1. Petra Stiasni (Human Powered H)
