La Vuelta Femenina
2023 La Vuelta Femenina
Race details
DateMay
RegionSpain
DisciplineRoad
CompetitionUCI Women's World Tour
Typeone day race 2015 – 2017
stage race 2018 -
OrganiserUnipublic
Amaury Sport Organisation
Race directorFernando Escartín
Web sitewww.lavueltafemenina.es/en
History
First edition2015 (2015)
Editions9 (as of 2023)
First winner Shelley Olds (USA)
Most wins Annemiek van Vleuten (NED) (3 wins)
Most recent Annemiek van Vleuten (NED)

La Vuelta Femenina (Spanish: [la ˈβwelta femeˈnina]; "The Female Tour") is an elite women's professional bicycle race held in Spain. The race is organised by Unipublic and Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), which also organises the men's Vuelta a España. It is part of the UCI Women's World Tour.

Some teams and media have referred to the race as a 'Grand Tour', as it is one of the biggest events on the women's calendar.[1] However, the race does not meet the UCI definition of such an event.[2]

La Vuelta Femenina replaces the Challenge by La Vuelta stage race (previously one day race) run between 2015 and 2022, staged at the same time as the men's tour.

History

Challenge by La Vuelta

In 2015, La Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta was first held as a one-day road race in the centre of Madrid, coinciding with the final day of the Vuelta a España. The race was similar to the La Course by Le Tour de France race held in conjunction with the final days of the Tour de France.[3] In 2016, the race joined the newly established UCI Women's World Tour. From 2018 onwards, a time trial was held as a first stage, remaining in the Madrid region.[4]

In 2020, a third day of racing was added and the race was renamed as the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta – after sponsor Ceratizit, and as stages were held outside the borders of the Autonomous Community of Madrid.[5] The 2021 edition increased the number of stages to 4, with the race finishing in Santiago de Compostela.[4]

The 2022 edition had 5 stages, from Marina de Cudeyo in the northern Cantabria region to Madrid – with the final day of the race coinciding with the final day of the 2022 Vuelta a España.[6]

The race had been criticised by the women's peloton for not being challenging enough,[7] with 3 time Giro Donne winner and 2022 Tour de France Femmes winner Annemiek van Vleuten, stating ""if you look at the [2022] course you can conclude that the Vuelta (sic) is not yet ready to call itself a grand tour".[8]

La Vuelta Femenina

In June 2022, it was announced that the Challenge by La Vuelta event would increase in length to 7 days, be renamed La Vuelta Femenina, and would be held in May rather than September.[9][10] This would make it the third Major Tour for professional women following the Giro d'Italia Donne and the Tour de France Femmes.[1]

In February 2023, the route for the 2023 edition was announced by race director Fernando Escartín,[11] who also confirmed that the race will be sponsored by supermarket Carrefour.[12] Annemiek van Vleuten praised the route, calling it "a very complete Vuelta",[13] and welcomed that the inclusion of the Lagos de Covadonga climb on the final stage, stating "to end in such a famous location is essential for the race".[14] Organisers referred to the 2023 edition as the first edition of La Vuelta Femenina, with media noting that the race had grown from the previous Challenge by La Vuelta races.[15] In April 2023, the European Broadcasting Union announced that a three year television deal had been agreed, with the race available on free to air channels across Europe.[16]

The race has identical classifications to the Vuelta a España, with the red jersey for the general classification, the green jersey for the points classification, the polka dot jersey for the mountains classification, and the white jersey for the young rider (under 23) classification. The jerseys are made by Santini.[12] The first rider to the top of the Lagos de Covadonga climb will be awarded the Cima Estela Domínguez,[17] honouring the Spanish rider who was killed while training in 2023.[18]

The 2023 edition was won by Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten by just nine seconds, making her the first woman to win all three of the major stage races in women's cycling (La Vuelta Femenina, Tour de France Femmes and Giro Donne).[19]

Winners

Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta

Year Country Rider Team
2015  United States Shelley Olds Bigla Pro Cycling Team
2016  Belgium Jolien D'Hoore Wiggle High5
2017  Belgium Jolien D'Hoore Wiggle High5
2018  Netherlands Ellen van Dijk Team Sunweb
2019  Germany Lisa Brennauer WNT–Rotor Pro Cycling

Challenge by La Vuelta

Year Country Rider Team
2020  Germany Lisa Brennauer Ceratizit–WNT Pro Cycling
2021  Netherlands Annemiek van Vleuten Movistar Team
2022  Netherlands Annemiek van Vleuten Movistar Team

La Vuelta Femenina

Year Country Rider Team
2023  Netherlands Annemiek van Vleuten Movistar Team

Wins per country

Wins Country
4 Netherlands
2 Belgium
 Germany
1 United States

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Welch, Betsy (2023-02-28). "La Vuelta Femenina 2023 to finish on Lagos de Covadonga". VeloNews.com. Retrieved 2023-04-10. The seven stages of the third 'grand tour' for women
  2. ↑ "UCI CYCLING REGULATIONS PART 2 ROAD RACES" (PDF). Union Cycliste Internationale. 1 April 2022. p. 59. Retrieved 4 August 2022. Elite women world circuit The duration of events ... is limited to 6 days unless an exemption is made by the UCI Management Committee
  3. ↑ "In the News: Vuelta gets green light for women's race - VeloNews.com". Velo News. 2015-12-08. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 2022-06-24.
  4. 1 2 "History – CERATIZIT Challenge by La Vuelta 2022". www.challengebylavuelta.com. Retrieved 2022-06-24.
  5. ↑ "The CERATIZIT Challenge by La Vuelta 2020 will consist of 3 stages". ASO. 21 May 2020.
  6. ↑ "Official route of the CERATIZIT Challenge by La Vuelta 2022". www.challengebylavuelta.com. Retrieved 2022-06-24.
  7. ↑ Welch, Betsy (2023-02-28). "La Vuelta Femenina 2023 to finish on Lagos de Covadonga". VeloNews.com. Retrieved 2023-03-05. Despite the number of stages increasing over the past few years, many riders and teams have slammed the previous editions of the race for not being long or hard enough.
  8. ↑ "Is the Vuelta a España Femenina in 2023 the right thing for the women's peloton?". Rouleur. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  9. ↑ Matilda Price (2022-06-17). "Four events added to Women's WorldTour calendar for 2023". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2022-06-24. As well as the addition of races, there has been some reshuffling of the calendar, most notably the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta – registered in 2023 as 'La Vuelta Femenina' – has moved to May, and will be seven stages long.
  10. ↑ sadhbhoshea (2022-11-28). "Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta rebrands as La Vuelta España Femenina for 2023". VeloNews.com. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  11. ↑ "News – The route of La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es". La Vuelta Femenina. 28 February 2023. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  12. 1 2 "Carrefour renews its commitment as a main sponsor of La Vuelta and extends its support to La Vuelta Femenina". La Vuelta. 1 December 2022. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  13. ↑ Welch, Betsy (2023-02-28). "La Vuelta Femenina 2023 to finish on Lagos de Covadonga". VeloNews.com. Retrieved 2023-03-05. It's a very complete Vuelta.
  14. ↑ Welch, Betsy (2023-02-28). "La Vuelta Femenina 2023 to finish on Lagos de Covadonga". VeloNews.com. Retrieved 2023-03-05. After the announcement, Van Vleuten praised the inclusion of the brutal Lagos de Covadonga climb on the final, decisive stage. "To end in such a famous location is essential for the race"
  15. ↑ O'shea, Sadhbh (2023-05-08). "Vuelta Femenina: 6 lessons learned from revamped race". VeloNews.com. Retrieved 2023-05-08. Last week's race was billed as the first-ever Vuelta Femenina by the organizers. While, strictly speaking, it is the first race run under that name, it was a development of the Challenge by La Vuelta format run before it.
  16. ↑ Rainford, Claire (2023-04-27). "Eurovision Sport agrees new La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es media rights partnership with Unipublic". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
  17. ↑ "CIMA ESTELA DOMÍNGUEZ: EL HOMENAJE ETERNO DE LA VUELTA FEMENINA A LA JOVEN CICLISTA FALLECIDA". Eurosport. 1 March 2023. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
  18. ↑ Ostanek, Daniel (2023-02-10). "Spanish neo-pro Estela Domínguez killed after being hit by truck driver". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
  19. ↑ Knöfler, Lukas (7 May 2023). "La Vuelta Femenina: Van Vleuten narrowly secures GC while Vollering wins stage 7". CyclingNews. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
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