La Vuelta Femenina 2024 – Analysing the contenders

Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), Demi Vollering (SD Worx-ProTime) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) (Image credit: Getty Images)

It is time for the first Grand Tour of the season and a look at just who within the women’s peloton could step into the red jersey of the overall race leader at La Vuelta Femenina.

The Spanish race, which has been upping the ante in recent seasons – transforming from a one-day race into a tour across eight stages – has lost its three-time champion Annemiek van Vleuten. The retirement of the rider who had previously dominated means a new group of potential victors will be clamouring to make a mark, particularly those forced to stand on the lower steps right through the period where the race has included terrain that leans toward climbing strength.

Of course, those rivals will include a couple of strong options from Lidl-Trek to carry on with the season's trend. The 2022 runner-up Elisa Longo Borghini is firing, having claimed three wins already this season, including the Tour of Flanders, and has visited the podium seven times. The Italian champion could also have Gaia Realini by her side, delivering the team strength card that Lidl-Trek seems to play so well. Canyon-SRAM, too look set to line up with a formidable combination of riders, which could well help an in-form Kasia Niewiadoma become increasingly accustomed to the taste of victory.

Demi Vollering may not have gone into last year's La Vuelta Femenina with a GC mindset, but she soon acquired one after stepping into the red jersey after the first summit finish on stage 4. After losing the lead position on stage 6, partly due to an ill-timed nature break and crosswinds, revenge was on her mind. She took it in the form of victory on the final stage at Lagos de Covadonga, but while that effort may have meant the SD Worx clawed back a significant portion of the gap in the final stage, she still fell nine seconds short of the ultimate prize, the red jersey. This edition, however, is the chance to change that.

To add to that sense of unfinished business is an early season, which has been peppered with podiums, but perhaps not the step on them she was hoping for. Vollering came into La Vuelta Femenina on a tearing run last year, having already swept up five victories for the year, including Strade Bianche and all of the Ardennes Classics. This year she is yet to claim a victory, although that will likely change in the coming days.

The toughening of the route should play into Vollering's hands, with the addition of a third summit finish bound to be a boon for the rider who won both in last year's edition. Plus, even though her main rival may be out of the picture, there will be plenty of obstacles along the way to the stage 8 finish line at the top of the Valdesquí, with a number of old rivals and rising talents lining up and a big target on Vollering's back as the rider to beat.

The Italian champion has stood on the overall podium of both the Giro d'Italia Women and La Vuelta Femenina, with second in both 2020 and 2022 in Spain. This year could be her chance to finally make it to that top step, especially given the consistency she has shown so far this season, where she has rarely deviated from the top few spots on the results sheet.

What's more, Longo Borghini is expected to be lining up in a squad that also includes the 22-year-old Gaia Realini. On her debut at the Vuelta last year stood on the third step of the podium alongside Vollering and Van Vleuten after climbing up the ranks by delivering an impressive effort on the final stage, taking second as the only rider who was even close to being able to keep pace with Vollering.

Last year's edition of the Vuelta was the race where Ricarda Bauernfeind gave notice of just what she was capable of, coming fifth overall just months into her first season in the Canyon-SRAM WorldTour team after having made the jump from the development squad. The German rider then quickly consolidated her position as a rider to watch by taking victory on stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes and finishing ninth overall. What's more, she has shown remarkable consistency in stage races, also finding the top ten last year at the Tour de Romandie Féminin and Tour of Scandinavia.

Niewiadoma is on top, clearly in form and fresh from that much sought after win at La Flèche Wallonne Femmes. That provided the best of lead in indications for a rider that, even when things aren't running so smoothly, doesn't seem to know how to deliver a bad GC result across the top Spanish, French and Italian tours. The rider from Poland has two podiums at the Tour de France Femmes, a second at the Giro d'Italia Women and 11 results within the top seven overall across her 12 participations at the three events. Niewiadoma doesn't have a podium at the Vuelta on her palmarès yet but with a powerful squad behind her – which also includes Neve Bradbury as a climbing asset – no step seems out of reach for her at this year's eight-stage race.

For a start, the toughening parcours mean there are more days suited to the 40-year-old who this year made the shift to Liv-AlUla-Jayco with hopes of a resurgence. The UAE Tour was a good sign, with the rider coming third overall.

Add to that, the rider said she has "been feeling better than I did last year and, at this stage, I think I can do well in this race." That means a podium target doesn't seem unreasonable, particularly given the first stage should help her along the way.

"I have done a three-week altitude simulation camp over the last month, and I felt really good in training and recently in the races," said Labous. "We’ve worked a lot to improve my GC abilities, so I want to aim for a podium, and we will do everything we can to achieve that goal."

It won't be the only ambition for the team, with Charlotte Kool on board for the sprints; however, 19-year-old Nienke Vinke, who finished second at the Tour Down Under in January, could prove a handy ally on the climbs as she debuts at the race.

Markus is a rider who, like García, will be hoping to start with an advantage given her team took the top spot at the opening team time trial last year.

The addition of another climbing stage, however, may make it a little harder to chase the podium again given that while she may have fared reasonably on the summit finishes in the past, finishing seventh on both last year's mountain top finales, but they still provide an opportunity for the pure climbers to leapfrog the Dutch rider.

Évita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ) came sixth in Spain last year and with a strong lead in, which included a fourth at La Flèche Wallonne, she looks to have every chance of delivering a powerful showing again in 2024.
With defending champion Van Vleuten out, Liane Lippert – who came fourth at the race in 2022 – is an obvious replacement contender for Movistar but her form is a huge unknown given she is just returning from injury to start the season. Also look out for teammate Olivia Baril who has a mounting list of stage race top ten finishes.
Ane Santesteban moved to Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi at the start of this season to help build the Spanish squad and it's hard to go beyond success at the home tour to get momentum rolling. The climber who finished sixth at the race in 2022 will have every incentive to go all out.

Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.