La Vuelta Femenina 24 by Carrefour.es : One day to go …

April 27 ^th 2024 - 20:00 [GMT + 2]

• The beautiful team presentation held on Saturday evening in Valencia’s Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias offered women’s cycling fans a hint of what’s to come over the next eight days in La Vuelta Femenina 24 by Carrefour.es.
• A 16-kilometre Team Time Trial in Valencia will kick off the event on Sunday. Race director Fernando Escartín believes it can well be defining: “Those who lose one minute in the TTT will struggle to gain it back.”
• 145 riders from 32 countries are participating in La Vuelta Femenina 24 by Carrefour.es, including last year’s runner-up Demi Vollering. The race will be broadcasted in no less than 190 territories all over the world.

Women’s cycling shines bright in Valencia

Despite a slightly cold breeze that drew the skies cloudy as the day went on, pre-race operations for La Vuelta Femenina 24 by Carrefour.es were conducted smoothly by the sunny peloton and its many followers. Valencia’s Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias was the venue of choice for both the race headquarters and the team presentation. The latter enjoyed a remarkable turn-out of spectators, animated by the music of DJ Neus González. It was nearly two hours into the show that Eurosport journalist Laura Álvarez and women’s cycling specialist Celia López went on stage to introduce the teams and their riders one by one to the delight of a sizable crowd of fans.

16 kilometres that “may define the race”

Bring on the racing! La Vuelta Femenina 24 by Carrefour.es is beginning this Sunday with a 16-kilometre Team Time Trial, the only one in the UCI Women’s WorldTour this season. Starting and finishing in Valencia’s Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, the TTT leaves the city and immediately heads south towards the Albufera Natural Park to later make a U-turn and ride back over the exact same road. “It’s going to create some differences,” foresees race director Fernando Escartín. “It is not demanding from a technical point of view, yet it will require a lot of power. There will be crosswinds, and this will favor those squads who manage to keep a close, tight unit.” Escartín considers that this stage can well be important for the outcome of La Vuelta Femenina 24 by Carrefour.es. “It may define the race. Those who lose one minute in the TTT will struggle to gain it back. On this year’s course there is no mountain as hard as the Lagos de Covadonga that tore the race apart in 2023, and thus the gaps between the top GC riders will be very narrow. It is very likely that the final podium will be decided on the final climb to Valdesquí.”

From Mavi to Kagevi, from the Netherlands to China

Most of the stars of the maiden edition of La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es are returning this season. Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx-Protime) and Marianne Vos (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) scored two wins last year on this race, whereas Charlotte Kool (Team dsm firmenich-PostNL) and Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) netted one each. Spanish national champion Mavi García (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) is the oldest amongst the 145 participants at 40 years and 118 days old. On the other hand, Stina Kagevi (Team Coop-Repsol) is just 18 years and 244 days ‘young’. No less than 32 countries are represented on the startlist, the Netherlands being the one with more riders in the mix – as many as 31. Amongst the 14 countries entering just one cyclist, China is the main highlight as Winspace’s Xin Tang is due to be the first-ever Chinese rider to ever take part on either La Vuelta Femenina or its previous incarnation, La Challenge by La Vuelta.

Movistar Team, a defending overall champion with “no clear GC prospects”

The maiden edition of La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es was won last year by Annemiek van Vleuten – as were the seventh and the eighth of CERATIZIT La Challenge by La Vuelta, making it three overall wins in a row for Movistar Team in Spain’s bigger stage race of the season. On 2024, though, the chances of a fourth straight overall title are slim as Van Vleuten retired from road racing last winter. “We have no clear GC prospects,” admits Movistar Team’s sports director Jorge Sanz. “Our race plans have changed quite a bit compared to last year, and we will only assess the possibility of a good placing on the overall standings just ahead of the final stage in Madrid.” Canada’s Olivia Baril and the Netherlands’ Mareille Meijering, who won the Vuelta a Extremadura in March, are the best climbers on the team’s line-up. “Besides, we have several punchy riders who are well suited to fight for stage wins.” Amongst them stand out Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift stage winners Liane Lippert and Emma Norsgaard – the former returning from a stress fracture in her hip, the latter from an altitude training camp in Sierra Nevada. “Our goal is to be in the mix on every road stage.” Does this mean we are about to see a very aggressive Movistar Team throughout the week? “I hope so!”

Demi Vollering and SD Worx willing to hit back after sub-par Classics campaign

After its utter and absolute domination of the 2023 season, Team SD Worx-Protime is enjoying a successful season yet again, the Paris-Roubaix Femmes triumph by Lotte Kopecky being its main highlight. Never the less, one of its star riders is struggling to find the mojo that enabled her to score 17 wins last year and come really close to topping the overall standings of La Vuelta Femenina 23 by Carrefour.es. Demi Vollering has not raised her arms in victory so far this season, failing to replicate her Ardennes Classics triple from last year, and has admittedly grown increasingly disappointed because of this, the peak being her near-miss last Sunday at Liège-Bastogne-Liège (3rd) – one that she described on her Instagram profile as ‘painful’. “I made a stupid mistake,” the Dutch rider said in the aftermath. “I was on a position to win and I didn’t,” she explained before asserting: “This will make me angrier ahead of La Vuelta Femenina.” Her team believes in her, as its DS Danny Stam attests: “Demi has shown in the Ardennes classics that she is in top form. After what happened last year, she will be keen to perform here and put things right.” Another attraction in SD Worx’s line-up is Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser, who comes back to racing after sustaining a broken jaw on a crash in the Tour of Flanders.

A world-class event with a world-wide reach

Nearly 190 territories all over the world will enjoy La Vuelta Femenina 24 by Carrefour.es. The two-hour live signal that will be produced for every stage is being broadcasted free by RTVE / Teledeporte, Gol Televisión, Canal Sur and Aragón TV in Spain, while Eurosport will offer it on its platforms and channels all over Europe. Furthermore, the race will be shown live on RTBF (Belgium), TV2 (Denmark), NOS (the Netherlands), TV2 (Norway), Flobikes (Canada), NBCSN / Peacock (USA), ESPN (Latin America), Eurosport Asia & GCN (Asia), SBS (Australia), JSports (Japan), Supersport (Sub-Saharan Africa) and Abu Dhabi Sports (MENA), the latter being a new broadcaster for this event. Those who miss the live broadcast will be able to find race clips and highlights in many other media and platforms, including the race’s official social media channels (handle @lavueltafem, hashtag #LaVueltaFemenina) where a 5 to 8-minute highlights movie will be released every day in both English and Spanish. Last but not least, fans can find all the information and follow the race live on the official website lavueltafemenina.es