The biggest talking points ahead of Itzulia Women - Preview

May is now one of the busiest months in women's cycling with four top-tier events on the Women’s WorldTour calendar that began with the revamped La Vuelta Femenina and will continue at the Itzulia Women held from May 12-14, Vuelta a Burgos from May 18-21, both in Spain and then RideLondon Classique from May 26-28. 

In its second edition, and at only three days, Itzulia Women is the shortest of Spain's top-tier events and, coming in the shadow of a gripping La Vuelta Femenina won by World Champion Annemiek van Vleuten, could be tough to match.

After last Sunday’s climax at Lagos de Covadonga, the peloton heads east, along Spain’s northern coast to the Basque Country, and there is no race among the region’s steep-sided valleys that could ever be described as easy. For this reason, Itzulia Women promises the sort of terrain that, even without a summit finish, will give way to a battle among the most powerful climbers.

While a repeat of last year’s three-stage clean sweep might be too much for Demi Vollering to ask for, the SD Worx rider will be hoping to avenge her mere nine-second defeat at La Vuelta at the hands of Van Vleuten, while others will be hoping to cash in too.

Cyclingnews highlights the biggest talking points ahead of Itzulia Women.

Join Cyclingnews' coverage of 2023 Itzulia Women and check back after the event for the full race reports, results, photo galleries, storylines and race analysis

Van Vleuten vs Vollering battle continues

La Vuelta Femenina was notable for some fascinating and combative racing in the early stages, while the final three of the seven days were defined by the head-to-head between Demi Vollering (SDWorx) and Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar).

The two women will meet again in the Basque Country this weekend, and their battle is set to be another fascinating one. 

Last year, Van Vleuten dominated their duels, indeed Vollering never once won ahead of her Dutch compatriot despite having a successful season. This year, though, roles have been reversed, with Vollering besting Van Vleuten in all but last week’s Vuelta general classification.

Van Vleuten, the reigning World Champion, has not seemed herself this season. Even while claiming the Vuelta winner’s maillot rojo, she seemed to be fighting her bike all the way to the line at the finale Lagos de Covadonga, holding on apparently only by her incredible will to win. 

Not since 2015 has she reached the first week of May without a victory, and lacking a stage win last week, she will be hungry to make amends at Itzulia.

On the other hand, Vollering was imperious on the Vuelta’s two mountain top finishes, winning both, and she might have won the overall had Van Vleuten’s Movistar team controversially upped the pace while she and her SDWorx teammates stopped for a comfort break on stage 6.

That move seemed to create a little needle between the two women and their teams, and it remains to be seen whether Vollering’s final stage win at La Vuelta is revenge enough for SD Worx. 

For extra spice, Vollering’s sports director Anna van der Breggen and Van Vleuten were fierce rivals when the former was riding, so Itzulia should be a cracker.

Lack of uphill finishes requires new approach

If Vollering is to repeat her 2022 three-stage clean sweep she will need to deal with a different challenge, with none of this year’s stages finishing uphill. In time-honoured Basque fashion, all three days wind through the region’s narrow, tree-clad valleys, but while there is plenty of climbing, each day’s finish is either flat or even downhill.

Starting in Etxebarria and finishing 122.2km later, stage one may prove the most decisive, the climb to Urkaregi, the last of two classified climbs, coming only 10km from the finish in Markina-Xemein. A version of that climb featured as the final challenge in last month’s men’s race, though the women’s effort is slightly longer, covering 5.8km at an average of 4.6%, though double-digit gradients will encourage aggressive racing ahead of the downhill finish.

Day two is the longest and arguably the easiest of the three, the 133.5km stage beginning on the plateau around Vitoria-Gasteiz before heading north into the hills. The finish in Amurrio is likely to be the closest we get to a bunch sprint in this year’s race, though that will be dictated by how teams approach an unclassified climb at Lezama, just over five kilometres out.

As with last year’s race, the final stage resembles the San Sebastián Klasikoa which substituted the proposed first edition of Itzulia in 2021, and which Van Vleuten won conclusively. 

However, the launch pad for that solo win two years ago, and for Vollering’s third stage win last season, the short but brutal Murgil-Tontorra climb has been removed, further altering the race’s complexion and opening it to punchy riders as opposed to pure climbers.

Packed May calendar thins the bunch  

Considering Itzulia is only the second European Women’s WorldTour stage race of the season the start list is remarkably short of top-tier teams. Even with the loss of the Women’s Tour in the UK, which would’ve allowed some rest and recovery June, May has proven too busy for some teams, many of which simply do not have the riders or staff to service such a packed calendar.

As yet, Women’s WorldTeams are not required to ride all WorldTour races and many have taken advantage, with only eight of the 15 top-tier squads in the Basque Country this weekend. Contrast that to last year’s event when 11 of the then 14 WorldTeams were on the start line.

For a Spanish race, the most notable individual absentee is national champion, Mavi García. The Liv Racing-Teqfind rider finished ninth at La Vuelta last week but her team have chosen to sit out this weekend, instead returning to competition at next week’s Vuelta a Burgos Feminas.

She’s not the only one. Perhaps the outstanding rider of last week was Italian youngster, Gaia Realini, who excelled in the mountains and finished third overall. Her Trek-Segfredo team will also return to action in Burgos, as will defending champion Juliette Labous and her DSM team. And though Jumbo-Visma will take the start on Friday, neither Vuelta points classification winner Marianne Vos nor fourth-placed Riejanne Markus will represent them.

In Van Vleuten and Vollering, Itzulia has two of the biggest names in the sport, but races consistently need the biggest names to attract sponsorship and this month’s dense calendar will not help Itzulia’s future.

Evita’s return to form is Muzic to FDJ-SUEZ ears

Another rider who proved her climbing prowess at La Vuelta Femenina was FDJ-SUEZ’s Evita Muzic. When the young Frenchwoman took a breakaway win on the final stage of the 2020 Giro d'Italia Donne, it wasn’t just her first professional victory but the team’s maiden WorldTour success too.

How the French squad have kicked on since that steamy day in Puglia. With vision and new sponsors, the team are now regular contenders, recruiting an increasingly international roster and tasting success in big races.

But last year, while Marta Cavalli was winning Ardennes Classics or challenging Van Vleuten in the Giro Donne, while Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig was winning a stage at the Tour de France Femmes, Muzic was relatively anonymous, still recovering from serious injury.

Muzic appeared back to the kind of form that saw her win stage 9 into Motta Montecorvino at the Giro three years ago. At La Vuelta last week she took fourth on both mountain top finishes, and sixth overall. Indeed, had she not lost time on the windswept third day she may well have been fourth on GC too.

After Cavalli's horrendous crash at the Tour de France Femmes last year and a sub-par early campaign, her Vuelta performances showed a clear progression and we can expect more of that in the Basque Country this weekend. 

With Muzic and Cavalli’s resurgence, the French team have expanded their options, and though this weekend’s flat finishes will suit punchier riders the team now have an accomplished pair of climbers to play the game on the race’s late climbs.

Zaaf out after licence is revoked   

It has long been the tradition that wildcard spots on bigger races are populated largely by home teams, and Itzulia is no different. Five Spanish and even one Colombian Continental teams will compete on Basque roads alongside WorldTour giants like Movistar and SD Worx this weekend.

There is, however, one notable absence - Zaaf Cycling Team. With a budget reported to be up to €5 million, the team should have been competitive on the calendar this season, but instead their story, and moreover the extenuating circumstances that the team's management has put its riders into, has cast a shadow over the women’s sport, perhaps exposing the frailties which persist.

The Spanish-registered team is currently under investigation after the majority of its riders have walked away from the programme amid allegations that they have not paid some riders and staff salaries and that they have shown a lack of professionalism. The UCI then remove the team from the list of registered Continental Teams, as its roster fell below the minimum of eight riders required to obtain a licence.

Just days after the team pulled out of racing La Vuelta Femenina, a press release from Itzulia organisers, announced they had “received confirmation from the UCI that the Zaaf Cycling Team will not be able to participate…”

That news came after it emerged that former Zaaf rider, Michaela Drummond would not be allowed to represent her new Farto-BTC team at the Spanish tour, a move which rubbed salt in a wound the failed team created. And the New Zealander, who has since been cleared to join Farto-BTC, won’t be at Iztulia either, Farto being one of only two Spanish teams not starting.

Indeed, as if to prove the Zaaf debacle has harmed Spanish women’s racing, none of their three Spanish riders has yet signed for a new professional team, and not one of the team will ride Itzulia. Hopefully, their absence leaves opportunities for the remaining Spanish squads and their riders to learn and show themselves this weekend.