Vollering powers to Giro stage 5 victory from a reduced group

Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) won stage 5 of the 2026 Giro d’Italia Women after prevailing from a reduced group of four riders. The decisive move formed on the final climb of the day, with Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon//SRAM), Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek), Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) and Vollering going clear.

The victory completed a Grand Tour trilogy for Vollering. Having already won stages at the Tour de France Femmes and La Vuelta Femenina, she added a first Giro d’Italia Women stage win to her palmarès on Wednesday. The 29 year old had previously raced the Giro in 2019 and 2021, but had never won a stage at the Italian Grand Tour.

“I’m really happy to win here. It’s my first victory in the Giro, so this is a beautiful one,” Vollering said in her post race flash interview. “It was a long and hard day. We started racing early. We wanted to have riders from our team in the early breakaway. That worked out with Amber Kraak and Lauren Dickson. That was the plan and it went perfectly.”

Vollering had been one of the most active riders throughout the stage. She attacked with just under 60 kilometres to go and helped drive a strong group of favourites that caught and passed a dangerous early breakaway of more than 20 riders, which had gained over four minutes on the peloton.

“Before we got to the final climb, I still had Lauren ahead of me. I was able to bridge across, and then she did amazing work on the flat and uphill,” Vollering said. “Maybe I went a little too early. In the end, I couldn’t really make the difference on the climb anymore, but it was a really beautiful day. We gave everything. It was a real fight.”

Van der Breggen, meanwhile, retained the pink jersey after another strong performance.

The fifth stage of the 2026 Giro d’Italia Women began at a frantic pace, with several riders looking to try their luck in the breakaway. With just under 100 kilometres remaining, 22 riders had gone clear as the race reached the first classified climb of the day.

The breakaway included three UAE Team ADQ riders: Eleonora Gasparrini, Lara Gillespie and Erica Magnaldi. They were joined by Mireia Benito (AG Insurance Soudal), Maya Kingma (Aromitalia Vaiano), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Canyon//SRAM), Kristen Faulkner and Mirre Knaven (EF Education-Oatly), Lauren Dickson (FDJ United-Suez), Thalita de Jong and Marit Raaijmakers (Human Powered Health), Lucinda Brand and Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek), Caroline Andersson and Nadia Gontova (Liv AlUla Jayco), Mareille Meijering (Movistar), Émilie Morier (St Michel Preference Home Auber93), Becky Storrie (Picnic PostNL), Valentina Cavallar (SD Worx-Protime), Marion Bunel and Viktória Chladoňová (Visma | Lease a Bike), and Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X Mobility).

Behind, FDJ United-Suez took control of the peloton as the breakaway built a sizeable advantage over the mountainous parcours.

The race situation changed dramatically with 57 kilometres remaining, when Vollering accelerated from the peloton. Her move helped form a strong group of favourites, which quickly reduced the gap to the remaining riders out front. At that point, Cavallar, Benito, Dickson, Gontova and Bunel were still ahead.

The favourites’ group included Femke de Vries (Visma | Lease a Bike), Isabella Holmgren, Antonia Niedermaier, Anna van der Breggen, Vollering, Marlen Reusser (Movistar) and Niamh Fisher Black (Lidl Trek).

Soon after, Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), Lotte Claes (AG Insurance Soudal), Magdeleine Vallieres (EF Education-Oatly) and Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla Jayco) also made contact with the favourites’ group.

Vollering then forced another selection, leaving only eight riders at the front with 40 kilometres to go. Niedermaier, Vollering, Longo Borghini, Holmgren, Trinca Colonel, Gontova, Dickson and Cavallar held a lead of 51 seconds over the chasing group.

With one classified climb still to come, both the stage victory and the general classification remained finely poised. On the final ascent, Niedermaier, Vollering, Holmgren and Van der Breggen went clear, setting up a four rider sprint for the win.

Vollering proved the strongest at the finish, taking victory ahead of Van der Breggen in second and Niedermaier in third.