The Spanish women’s round will miss the retired Annemiek van Vleuten, winner in the last three editions
BARCELONA, 27 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Vuelta Femenina 24 by Carrefour.es starts again this Sunday with a surprising team time trial in Valencia and will end on Sunday, May 5 in the Madrid mountains after eight stages, being the longest edition and with three of them being high mountain , in a display of ambition and desire to put on a show in a race that will miss its three-time current winner, the now retired Annemiek van Vleuten.
It is the second edition of the Spanish women’s round with the current format, and La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es continues to grow in terms of level and toughness, with one more stage to reach 8 days of which three are high finals, including the finale in Valdesquí (Madrid) and starting from Valencia, which hosted the presentation of the route, with a team time trial that was already seen last year, then from Torrevieja (Alicante).
There will be a total of 8 stages that will cover a total distance of 867 kilometers, a record for La Vuelta Femenina. This edition will leave Valencia this Sunday and will end in Valdesquí, in the Community of Madrid, on May 5 after completing 1 flat stage, 2 undulating stages, 1 medium mountain stage and 3 mountain stages, in addition to the initial team time trial .
The Valencian capital already has the experience of being the official departure of the men’s La Vuelta in 1996 and 2002, and now it will do double duty with the women’s event with a 16-kilometer team time trial, with its epicenter in the City of Arts and Sciences and the Oceanogràfic.
On the second day, starting in Buñol, we will travel through the interior of the Valencian province before entering Castellón territory to finish in Moncófar, with the Puerto de l’Oronet (3rd category) about 35 kilometers from the finish line as a possible starting point. stage break.
The third stage will also depart from the province of Castellón, from Lucena, heading to Teruel on a day of almost constant climbing, in the middle of the mountain, with another 3rd class pass, the Alto Fuente de Rubielos, as the protagonist before the ‘descent’. to Teruel.
In the fourth stage the race will make its first foray into the province of Guadalajara to leave Molina de Aragón, before returning to the Aragonese community on mainly flat terrain and experiencing a final stage in its capital, Zaragoza, with many numbers to compete. a massive arrival unless an escape prevents it.
The fifth stage finally brings the mountains to this women’s round, which overall is very mountainous and leaves all the meat on the grill for last. On the first mountainous day comes the debut of the Pyrenees in La Vuelta Femenina 24 by Carrefour.es. Starting in Huesca, we will climb the Alto del Monasterio de San Juan de la Peña (2nd) just before facing the final climb to the Alto del Fuerte Rapitán (2nd) in Jaca.
The second high finish will come the next day, in a sixth stage of 132 kilometers between Tarazona (Zaragoza) and La Laguna Negra de Vinuesa, in Soria. A summit with two presences in La Vuelta that, according to the organization, has already written the first pages of its cycling history. A 1st category port, long and long with hard ramps, where you can begin to solve this Vuelta.
The penultimate stage will give a respite to those seeking the general classification, but the 126 kilometers that separate San Esteban de Gormaz (Soria) from Sigüenza (Guadalajara) have some ascending final meters that will test the explosiveness of the cyclists and sprinters , which should have this seventh stage marked in red.
And, for the last stage, no partying until crossing the demanding finish line of Valdesquí, in the Community of Madrid. The eighth and final day will leave the Telefónica District – in the company’s centenary – of the capital and will be short, just 89 kilometers, but very demanding.
Heading to the Sierra de Guadarrama, the tough Puerto de la Morcuera (1st) will be climbed from Guadalix de la Sierra and will be linked to the final ascent to Valdesquí, also in the 1st category, which will crown the final winner of La Vuelta Femenina 24 by Carrefour.es.
VOLLERING, LONGO BORGHINI AND YOU, AMONG OTHERS, WANT ANNEMIEK’S THRONE
As for participation, there will be many cyclists who will choose to occupy the throne that in the last three editions went to the Dutch Annemiek van Vleuten, who retired at the end of 2023. Her compatriot Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx-Protime) starts with a certain favoritism, being the current champion of the women’s Tour de France and showing good form in La Fleche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
The Italian Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), at 32 years old, is another candidate to win a Vuelta in which she was second in 2022. She knows that, with so many mountains, it is not her ideal profile but she arrives ready to fight among the better, like the Polish Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM Racing), getting better and better as the slope goes up and who has just won La Flecha Wallona and been third in the last Tour.
As for the Spanish Movistar Team, van Vleuten’s former teammate, the German Liane Lippert, must now take the controls. Having overcome the injury that had her in the dry dock last winter, she will try to pick up the pace before the arrival of the mountain and will opt to improve her 21st position in La Vuelta Femenina 23. Of course, she has not made her debut yet in 2024, so little can be demanded of him.
Few national cyclists start in the group of candidates. Perhaps the best placed, on paper, is the 40-year-old veteran Mavi García (Liv AlUla Jayco), who was ninth in the last edition and seventh in the 2023 Giro.
But this Vuelta will have more prestigious cyclists, such as the Dutch Marianne Vos (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) and her 251 professional victories and 8 world titles, with the intention of adding some of the flattest stages. The Swiss Marlen Reusser, the French Juliette Labous and the Dutch Charlotte Kool will also give prestige to this Vuelta.
3 SPANISH TEAMS AMONG THE 21 PARTICIPANTS
Of the 21 teams that will participate in the test, with 13 teams from the highest category UCI Women’s World Teams and 8 teams from the second category UCI Women’s Continental Teams, only three squads will be Spanish; Movistar Team (World Teams) and Eneicat-CMTeam and Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi (Continental Teams).
For the race director, former cyclist Fernando Escartín, this Women’s Tour will have many battle points. “We separated La Vuelta from La Vuelta Femenina so that they were equal and gave it importance. Right now, La Vuelta Femenina is already above other men’s events in Spain. We want it to be attractive, the public likes to see fights on the road and we have added a lot of mountains,” he said in the presentation.
2024-04-27 07:59:58
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