The Spring Classics are formally finished, and the primary Grand Tour on the ladies’s worldwide calendar is upon us because the peloton lineup at 2024 Vuelta Femenina from April 28 to May 5.
Although there’s restricted time to transition between the 2 very totally different kinds of racing, lots of the predominant contenders for the Vuelta have already been getting ready in between one-day races this spring at altitude coaching camps to assist construct the energy and stamina wanted for the upper mountains and back-to-back race days.
Cyclingnews highlights a number of the predominant speaking factors forward of the eight-day race.
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Demi Vollering’s first stage racing check
Demi Vollering heads into La Vuelta Femenina as the large favorite, and it is going to be the primary main check of her stage racing targets. She has had a slower begin to the season with hypothesis that which will have been deliberate in order that she is more energizing for large races later within the yr.
She has solely competed in one-day races to date this spring, and though she hasn’t gained a race but, she has completed on the rostrum in 4 main occasions: Strade Bianche, Brabantse Pijl, Flèche Wallonne, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
This implies that whereas she is probably not in her finest type, but, and that she is on an upward trajectory because the peloton heads into stage racing season.
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Last yr, Vollering gained two phases on the uphill into Mirador de Peñas Llanas and atop Lagos de Covadonga, however she was 9 seconds shy of taking the general gained by now-retired Annemiek van Vleuten.
Vollering went on to win the Tour de France Femmes final yr, however she has not but gained the general titles on the Giro d’Italia or the La Vuelta, that are undoubtedly two different Grand Tour profession objectives.
The longer climbs of La Vuelta Femenina will cater to her strengths, particularly after her early-season altitude coaching camp, and with a stage within the Pyrenees, and three mountaintop summit finishes, Vollering might flip a podium right into a victory this yr.
A uncommon staff time trial
La Vuelta Femenina has been elevated to eight phases and can as soon as once more start with a staff time trial, this time in Valencia.
The staff time trial is changing into more and more uncommon in girls’s racing, outdoors of the combined staff relay on the European and World Championships. No different occasion at present hosts this self-discipline on the Women’s WorldTour, though there are a few late-season occasions that haven’t introduced routes.
La Vuelta’s opening staff time trial will embody a flat 16km, out-and-back, that may favour essentially the most highly effective groups, and with the occasion’s first chief’s jersey on the road, it is a vital stage.
Due to the dearth of staff time trials all through the season, some groups won’t have positioned an emphasis on coaching particularly for this self-discipline, whereas others may have fine-tuned their gear, staff cohesion, method and energy.
Look for groups like Lidl-Trek, SD Worx-Protime, Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL, and final yr’s TTT winners Visma-Lease a Bike to be amongst these in rivalry for the stage win.
No Van Vleuten, however numerous competitors
Last yr’s champion, Annemiek van Vleuten, is now retired, and whereas her absence may have left a void within the peloton, there’s extra depth within the area this yr than ever earlier than.
If the Women’s WorldTour racing to date is any indication, there hasn’t been one dominant rider or staff all through the primary 4 months of racing.
There have been 5 wins from SD Worx-Protime between Lotte Kopecky and Lorena Wiebes, three wins from Visma-Lease a Bike between Marianne Vos and Rosita Reijnhout, three wins from Lidl-Trek between Elisa Balsamo and Elisa Longo Borghini, and a win apiece from AG Insurance-Soudal’s Sarah Gigante, Canyon-Sram’s Kasia Niewiadoma and FDJ-Suez’s Grace Brown.
La Vuelta Femenina provides eight phases that may go well with a spread of strengths and talents, and it’s unlikely that one rider or staff will dominate the racing.
Indeed, a number of riders are in rivalry to win this yr’s general title at La Vuelta Femenina, and Cyclingnews highlights the riders to observe.
Living as much as expectations
The progress of La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es could have been sluggish at first, beginning out as a one-day race in 2015 however organisers have regularly constructed upon its basis annually.
The race moved to a multi-day format with two phases in 2018 and a three-day race in 2020. Organisers added a stage in every subsequent version till it reached seven-day race in 2023, and lots of imagine was Grand Tour stage on the ladies’s calendar as rivalling the Tour de France Femmes and the Giro d’Italia Women.
Organisers have not stopped there, including an eighth stage for its tenth version this yr, and whereas it won’t showcase Lagos de Covadonga, the peloton will deal with the numerous ascent throughout the ultimate 4 days of racing.
Three mountaintop finishes, all beforehand featured in males’s occasions, are more likely to outline the general standings: Fuerte Rapitán on stage 5, Laguna Negra de Vinuesa on stage 6, and Valdesquí. Comunidad de Madrid on stage 8.
Cyclingnews highlights the full route particulars of 2024 La Vuelta Femenina.