Barbara Malcotti rose above the clouds atop the legendary L’Angliru mountain to claim ninth place on stage 7 of the Vuelta España Femenina, securing ninth place on the final general classification in the process.
Whilst Petra Stiasny was creating history with her stage win, Malcotti was writing more, scoring the second Grand Tour overall top ten for the program in its 13th season.
This was only Malcotti’s second race of the year. Having crashed in the offseason, the 26-year-old went through a process of recovery and rehabilitation, coming into the Vuelta unsure of racing form, but ready to perform.
“I came here with more question marks than answers, but from where I came from, this Vuelta may be the best result I have ever got,” said Malcotti. “To come here since my crash, sure, I cried a lot, but all of this is paying me back.”
She headed into the final day in 17th place, and a double-puncture in the first half of the race threatened to put her in trouble. But the support of her teammates, coupled with her climbing performance, saw Malcotti rise an impressive eight places on the general classification.
“I expected worse from L’Angliru,” Malcotti explained. “I really enjoyed this climb and landscape, more so on the descent back down after the stage, but I really liked it, even though it was painful.”
The result marks a return to form for the climber, who can build on the confidence from her fourth WorldTour overall top ten.
“I will have more confidence in myself going forward in the season,” she explained. “I know where I have to work to be better, but also as a team, we are more confident now about how strong we are after this victory.”
Saturday, May 9 2026, will forever be remembered as an historic day for the program. Head of Race Magnus Bäckstedt was in the following car and reflected on the occasion.
“The team has worked incredibly hard all week, committed to the goal of going with Barbara for GC and looked after her the whole time,” Bäckstedt said afterwards. “Everyone did an amazing job to get Barbara back in after her puncture, so staying strong mentally in that moment was important. She kept the focus and kept pushing, and you could see on the final climb that she was right there in the mix.”
This performance builds on the back of Malcotti’s previous Grand Tour best of eighth at the 2025 Giro d’Italia Women.
“Ninth, with more to come after all the hard work that Barbara has done to get back from her injury right at the start of the training season, is admirable,” he continued. “We had a plan, we believed in that plan, and this result in the general classification shows that we have a process in mind, we stick to it, and can achieve great results.”
Naturally, Bäckstedt was full of praise for stage victor Petra Stiasny.
“Only legends have won up that climb, so this is one for the history books,” Bäckstedt said afterwards. “It was impossible to hold the tears in the team car watching that, especially when we knew Petra had it.”
The team now leaves Spain with proof that their long-term process is delivering results — and with the belief that even bigger achievements are still to come.
Vuelta España Femenina General Classification results
1 BLASI Paula – UAE Team ADQ 22:17:03
2 VAN DER BREGGEN Anna – Team SD Worx – Protime 0:24
3 BUNEL Marion – Team Visma | Lease a Bike 0:49
4 OSTOLAZA Usoa – Laboral Kutxa – Fundación Euskadi 2:31
5 BERTHET Juliette – FDJ United – SUEZ 2:36
6 ŽIGART Urška – AG Insurance – Soudal Team 2:43
7 TRINCA COLONEL Monica – Liv AlUla Jayco 2:51
8 NIEWIADOMA Kasia – CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto 3:06
9 MALCOTTI Barbara – Human Powered Health 3:50
10 MUZIC Évita – FDJ United – SUEZ 3:55
Photos: GettySport
