The Spring Classics are formally completed, 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 Could 5.
Though there’s restricted time to transition between the 2 very completely different kinds of racing, most of the principal 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 among the principal 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 will probably 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 brisker 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.
Which means that whereas she might not be in her greatest type, but, and that she is on an upward trajectory because the peloton heads into stage racing season.
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Final 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 may flip a podium right into a victory this yr.
A uncommon crew time trial
La Vuelta Femenina has been elevated to eight phases and can as soon as once more start with a crew time trial, this time in Valencia.
The crew time trial is turning into more and more uncommon in ladies’s racing, outdoors of the combined crew relay on the European and World Championships. No different occasion at the moment hosts this self-discipline on the Girls’s WorldTour, though there are a few late-season occasions that haven’t introduced routes.
La Vuelta’s opening crew time trial will embrace 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 crucial stage.
Because of the lack of crew time trials all through the season, some groups may not have positioned an emphasis on coaching particularly for this self-discipline, whereas others may have fine-tuned their tools, crew cohesion, approach and energy.
Search for groups like Lidl-Trek, SD Worx-Protime, Group DSM-Firmenich PostNL, and final yr’s TTT winners Visma-Lease a Bike to be amongst these in competition for the stage win.
No Van Vleuten, however a number of competitors
Final 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 discipline this yr than ever earlier than.
If the Girls’s WorldTour racing to date is any indication, there hasn’t been one dominant rider or crew 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 coverage-Soudal’s Sarah Gigante, Canyon-Sram’s Kasia Niewiadoma and FDJ-Suez‘s Grace Brown.
La Vuelta Femenina affords eight phases that may swimsuit a spread of strengths and talents, and it’s unlikely that one rider or crew will dominate the racing.
Certainly, a number of riders are in competition to win this yr’s total title at La Vuelta Femenina, and Cyclingnews highlights the riders to look at.
Residing as much as expectations
The expansion of La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es might have been sluggish at first, beginning out as a one-day race in 2015 however organisers have steadily constructed upon its basis every year.
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 degree on the ladies’s calendar as rivalling the Tour de France Femmes and the Giro d’Italia Girls.
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 sort out 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.
