For Bunel herself, it was a day she will not soon forget. “The girls were amazing. They kept me in the perfect position all day. It was an incredibly hard day, but I’m happy I didn’t blow up.”

Her podium finish also brought a lot of joy. “It’s unbelievable that I’m standing on the podium. It’s a huge step for me. I want to keep learning and take those lessons with me. With this team around me, I feel I’m in the right place to do that. Now I just want to keep improving myself, without limits,” said Bunel.

In the queen stage from Pola de Laviana to the mythical Alto de l’Angliru, the riders faced one final ultimate test: 132.9 kilometres and more than 3,400 metres of climbing, with the legendary final ascent acting as the decisive battleground of this Vuelta Femenina. Bunel crowned her strong race with fourth place in the stage, a podium finish in the general classification, and victory in the youth classification.

On the slopes of the Alto de l’Angliru, the race exploded completely open. The young Frenchwoman launched an acceleration herself in the group of favorites and joined the battle for the stage podium. In the end, Bunel crossed the line in fourth place after an impressive climbing performance against the strongest riders in the peloton. Thanks to her strong final stage, the talented climber also secured her third place in the overall standings.

Teammate Sarah Van Dam looked back on the stage with satisfaction and was extremely proud of the young Bunel: “Our priority all day was to keep Marion in a good position. We really formed a sort of bubble around her. I think we did that very well, after which she did the hard work with her magical legs.”