Annemiek van Vleuten rejects attack on red jersey in penultimate stage Vuelta | Cycling

Van Vleuten finished sixth in the stage won by Italy’s Silvia Persico and retained the lead in the standings. She will ride the final stage in Madrid on Sunday in the red jersey and can then complete her ‘hat-trick’.

The 39-year-old Movistar leader has already won the Giro and the Tour de France for women this year. Van Vleuten is also on the verge of winning the five-day stage race through Spain, which will be held in the final week of the Vuelta for men.

Kiesenhofer surprised the Dutch cyclists in the Olympic road race in Japan last year. The 31-year-old Austrian then jumped away from the leading group at 40 kilometers from the finish and soloed to the gold. Van Vleuten crossed the finish line cheering because she thought she had won, but then heard that Kiesenhofer was already inside. She had to be content with silver. A few days later, Van Vleuten did become Olympic time trial champion.

The Austrian tried to achieve a similar stunt in Spain on Saturday. She built up a lead of about 9 minutes on her own and even drove virtually in the red jersey. Kiesenhofer was in twentieth place in the standings, more than 7 minutes behind Van Vleuten. However, she was caught 1 kilometer from the finish, when the road rose sharply. Persico won the stage, ahead of Demi Vollering. Van Vleuten crossed the finish line in sixth place and enters the final stage with 1 minute and 51 seconds ahead of Elisa Longo Borghini from Italy. Vollering is third at 2.18.

Van Vleuten won the tough mountain stage in the Vuelta for women on Thursday and then took over the leader’s jersey from Longo Borghini, who had won the team time trial with Trek on Wednesday.