Opportunity knocks for Demi Vollering and Elisa Longo Borghini at open La Vuelta Femenina

Demi Vollering and Elisa Longo Borghini are among the big names lining up at La Vuelta Femenina, which begins with a team time trial around Valencia on Sunday.

The Spanish race is likely to be more open than it has been in years, following the retirement of Annemiek van Vleuten last season – the Dutchwoman won the past three editions of the Spanish Grand Tour.

Vollering (SD Worx) and Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) have both performed well at recent editions of the race, though are unlikely to have it all their own way, with Riejanne Markus (Visma-Lease A Bike), Ricarda Bauernfiend (Canyon-SRAM) and Évita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) all top-six finishers last year and named on the initial start lists.

Once again sponsored by the Carrefour supermarket chain, the women's version of the Vuelta a España has continued to progress to what has now become an eight stage, eight-day race. It trumps even the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift this year, which remains eight stages but will be held over seven days with a stage 2a / 2b split day early on.

Beginning on the east coast with that Valencia team test, the race heads north over its first five stages before turning south-west to finish three days later just outside the Spanish capital, Madrid.

Vuelta España Femenina 2024 key info

Dates: Sunday April 28 to Sunday May 5
UCI 2.WWT ranked
Eight stages
1 team time trial
1 flat road stage
3 hilly stages
3 mountain stages (all summit finishes)

Last year's top three:
1. Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar)
2. Demi Vollering (SD Worx)
3. Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek)

La Vuelta Femenina 2024 route

The race takes on a similar profile to last year, with the flatter stages in the first half, with mountains being introduced as the race goes on. It's hillier this time round though, with little to offer the sprinters – they will find only that only stage four looks like a clear opportunity for a bunch dash.

Proceedings kick off in the east coast city of Valencia with an almost perfectly flat 16km team time trial on stage one. Beginning outside the science museum in the city's heart, the route heads due south across the Turia river to make a U-turn and retrace steps to finish not far from the start.

The hills begin on stage two, as the riders head northwards from Buñol to Moncofa over 118.3km. The only classified climb is the Puerto de l'Oronet, nearly 40km from the finish. It could offer the perfect breakaway launchpad, but the sprinters and their teams will be left with plenty of time to make the catch.

The 130.2km stage three, taking riders inland from Luceña to Turiel, looks like a seriously grippy day out, with a cat-three, 1,003m Alto Fuente de Rubielos ushering in a lumpy second half that will sap tired legs and spirits and make fine breakaway territory.

Stage four from Molina de Aragón to Zaragoza is the longest of the race at 142.3km, but it's downhill nearly all the way to what looks like a nailed on bunch finish.

The riders touch the edge of the Pyrenees on stage five, hitting its northern apex at Jaca. They will also encounter the most serious climbing yet, with the cat-two Alto del Monasterio de San Juan de la Peña at 85km followed shortly by the Alto del Fuerte Rapitán – a cat-two climb to a summit finish at 1,105m.

Stage six continues the climbing theme, with a summit finish at the end. Traversing 132.5km east to west across the top of the country from Tarazona to La Laguna Negra, the first 30km rise slowly but surely from the start at 524m to the top of a plateau at more than 1,100m. Things then flatten out all the way to the bottom of that final climb to La Laguna Negra – a 6.5km cat-one that averages 6.8% and considerably more than that in the closing stages.

Most of stage seven is spent above 900 and even 1,000m, but it's lumpy rather than mountainous. In fact there are no classified climbs, so if the sprinters and their teams have enough energy left after what has been a tough week, there could be a second bunch finish in the offing. Otherwise, one for the breakaways.

When you see 'Madrid' written on the route sheet at the end of a major stage race, the only obvious thought is 'city centre finish'. Not today. Stage eight (89.5km) begins just outside the city at the Distrito Telefonica (think Canary Wharf but for telecoms) and heads north-west into the mountains, crossing the cat-one 1,771m Puerto de Morcuera to finish atop the Valdesquí at more than 1,800m, at the end of what is probably the hardest stage of the race. 

La Vuelta Femenina 2024 riders to watch

Demi Vollering (SD Worx)
****
The Dutchwoman has not had the stellar early season she enjoyed last year, perhaps due to nagging contract issues at her SD Worx team – which she intends to leave at the end of the year. But she still has a slew of second and third places to her name in the biggest races, including third at Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and second at La Flèche Wallonne. 

Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek)
****
The dominance of the SD Worx team last season has often left Italy's Longo Borghini fighting for the runner-up spots, but the Belgian team has looked eminently beatable this season – no more so than in the Tour of Flanders, which ELB won this year for the first time since 2015. That – and a close second at the recent Liège-Bastogne-Liège, could go a long way towards boosting her confidence and motivation at the Vuelta.

Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek)
****
Longo Borghini's compatriot at Lidl-Trek was third here last year. The 22-year-old began a four-year contract at the team last year and has since filled out her nascent palmarès with some impressive results – including three GC top-fives in stage races this year alone. The only hurdle at the Vuelta could be an obligation to work for Longo Borghini.

Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez)
***
The Aussie will not find an outlet for her outstanding ability against the clock at the Vuelta Femenina, but her recent win at Liège-Bastogne-Liège shows she can win in hilly terrain too and should certainly convince her that she has the form to make a showing here. Indeed, she is a previous stage winner – outsprinting breakaway partner Elise Chabbey for the win on an intermediate stage in 2022.

Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM)
****
Fresh from breaking her near-miss streak at La Flèche Wallonne, the Pole will be one to watch in Spain; perhaps with the weight lifted from her shoulders, she can keep winning. Niewiadoma finished 10th last year, but will hope to do better - she has twice finished on the Tour podium, after all.

Juliette Labous (dsm-firmenich PostNL)
***
The Frenchwoman was solid in the Ardennes Classics, finishing in the top 10 at both Flèche and at Liège, without sparkling. However, she has form in Grand Tours, finishing fifth at the Tour and second at the Giro d'Italia Donne in the past. Her team looks solid, and is more than capable of backing her up.

La Vuelta Femenina 2024 start list

Movistar
BARIL Olivia
MEIJERING Mareille
MARTÍN Sara
ERIĆ Jelena
NORSGAARD Emma
GUTIÉRREZ Sheyla
LIPPERT Liane

Lidl-Trek
REALINI Gaia
LONGO BORGHINI Elisa
BÄCKSTEDT Elynor
CHAPMAN Brodie
DEIGNAN Lizzie
VAN DIJK Ellen
SPRATT Amanda

Canyon//SRAM Racing
CZAPLA Justyna
BÄCKSTEDT Zoe
BRADBURY Neve
NIEDERMAIER Antonia
NIEWIADOMA Katarzyna
VAN DER DUIN Maike
BAUERNFEIND Ricarda

Visma-Lease A Bike
MARKUS Riejanne
VAN AGT Eva
HENDERSON Anna
VON BERSWORDT Sophie
OUDEMAN Maud
ACHTEREEKTE Carlijn
VOS Marianne

SD Worx-Protime
VOLLERING Demi
BREDEWOLD Mischa
VAS Blanka Kata
FISHER-BLACK Niamh
REUSSER Marlen
GUARISCHI Barbara
CECCHINI Elena

Roland

UAE Team ADQ

FDJ-SUEZ
BROWN Grace
MUZIC Évita
DEMAY Coralie
GUAZZINI Vittoria
VIGILIA Alessia
CAVALLI Marta
KRAAK Amber

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
CIABOCCO Eleonora
HENGEVELD Daniek
KOOL Charlotte
LABOUS Juliette
SMITH Abi
VINKE Nienke
BARBIERI Rachele

EF Education-Cannondale
CADZOW Kim
EMOND Clara
EWERS Veronica
FAULKNER Kristen
JACKSON Alison
KOPPENBURG Clara
VALLIERES Magdeleine4h

AG Insurance-Soudal Team
LOUW Anya
BENITO Mireia
VAN DE VELDE Julie
MOOLMAN Ashleigh
GHEKIERE Justine
GIGANTE Sarah
PLUIMERS Ilse

Lotto-Dstny Ladies
DE JONG Thalita
BASTIANSSEN Fauve
DE KEERSMAEKER Ausrey

Fenix-Deceuninck

Human Powered Health
BIRIUKOVA Yuliia
CHRISTIE Henrietta
ZANARDI Silvia
WILLIAMS Lily
RAAIJMAKERS Marit
KASPER Romy

Liv-AlUla-Jayco
GARCÍA Mavi
HOWE Georgie
GÅSKJENN Ingvild
ANDERSSON Caroline
SMULDERS Silke
BAKER Georgia
CAMPBELL Teniel

Bepink-Bongioanni
ORO Angela
POZZOBON Beatrice
CASAGRANDA Andrea
JENČUŠOVÁ Nora
MAGALHÃES Ana Vitória
COLOMBI Selene
TRINCA COLONEL Monica

Eneicat CMTeam
NORMAND Adèle

Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi

Coop-Repsol

VolkerWessels Pro Cycling
VANHOVE Marith

Winspace
VALENTIN Constance
TANG Xin
PEREKITKO Karolina
NERLO Aurela
BERNARD Floraine
ALLIONE Marine
ABGRALL Noémie