Spanish Vuelta leader Lotte Kopecky gave up a stage win to teammate Mischa Bredewold on Thursday and then acknowledged she would lose first overall as the race heads into the mountains.
Belgian sprinter Kopecky, the winner the day before, followed the lead out of SD Worx teammate Bredewold but touched her brakes just before the line allowing her teammate to grab a long-awaited victory.
"Finally!" said Bredewold after her first win of the season.
The 25-year-old Dutchwoman, who won the European Championship in 2023 and the Amstel Gold Race a year ago, is the second sprinter in her team behind Kopecky.
"We are here together with Lotte and me, so you need to puzzle a bit with the stages," said Bredewold.
"With the red (leader's) jersey, you don’t want to throw that away, that would be really stupid.
"We made an ideal plan to do it like this, that I get to sprint, I have Lotte in my wheel, and she would come over if she had to. I'm super happy to get the first victory."
🥰 La última jornada antes de la montaña nos dejó emoción, caídas y otro doblete del @teamsdworx. 5 etapas... ¡y 5 ganadoras diferentes! Revive lo mejor de la etapa en 1'
— La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es (@LaVueltaFem) May 7, 2026
🔥 The last day before the mountains arrive brought us crashes, suspense, and a one-two double up by… pic.twitter.com/Ui0RArZZ5h
Having won the previous day, Kopecky finished second and retained the overall lead at the end of a 120km stage from Leon to Astorga marked by a mass crash one kilometre from the finish which all the race favourites avoided.
On Friday, the peloton will head for the hills with the first of two mountain stages that will conclude this Vuelta, a 106-kilometre run starting in Gijon and finishing at the summit of Les Praeres.
"The red jersey will no longer be mine tomorrow," said Kopecky, who leads Franziska Koch by 12 seconds and Cedrine Kerbaol by 12.
On Saturday, the final ascent of the gruelling Angliru, with gradients exceeding 20 per cent, will be the race's ultimate test.
Having remained quiet so far, the favourites will now have to show their true colours. With the exception of France's Juliette Berthet, who lost nearly two minutes after mechanical problems on Tuesday, all the contenders are bunched together.
Frenchwoman Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Pole Kasia Niewiadoma — the last two winners of the Tour de France - are the main contenders for the overall victory in the absence of the Dutch rider Demi Vollering. They are both 32 seconds behind Kopecky.