Less than a month before her 40th birthday, Annemiek Van Vleuten won the women’s Vuelta on Sunday to complete a sweep of this year’s major tours.
On the fifth and final stage into Madrid, the Dutch Movistar rider finished safely in the main pack, seven seconds behind the day’s winner, Italian Elisa Balsamo of Trek-Segafredo.
Balsamo, the world road-race champion, outsprinted Belgian Lotte Kopecky of SD Worx and a second Itaian Marta Bastianelli (UAE) at the end of a 96.5km circuit through the streets of central Madrid.
In the overall standings, Van Vleuten finished 1min 44sec ahead of Italian Elisa Longo Borghini with another Dutch rider, Demi Vollering, third.
Van Vleuten grabbed the lead when she won the mountainous third stage of the race by more than two minutes on Friday.