How La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es changed my life
April 30 th 2025 - 11:00 [GMT + 2]
In last week’s interview with Kristen Faulkner (1992, the USA), the current Olympic road race champion said her stage win in La Vuelta Femenina 24 by Carrefour.es was “instrumental” for her success in Paris 2024. “What happened that day was interesting,” she recalled about her triumphant ride to Zaragoza. “When I attacked, I had a number of riders on my wheel. I kept pushing and was eventually able to ride them off my wheel, create a gap and grow it. Later, in the Olympics road race, I basically had to ride riders off my wheel the same way I did in the Vuelta. The Vuelta showed me what I was capable of doing.”
This recollection led us to think whether other riders in the peloton have similar feelings towards this event. Has La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es changed many lives already during its still brief lifespan? How many careers have thrived thanks to the Spanish Grand Tour?
Marlen Reusser’s (1991, Switzerland) is one of those. She first entered the event four years ago, back on its previous incarnation as the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta, as an inexperienced athlete that had decided to set her Medicine practice aside to try her luck in cycling. “We could say 2021 was my breakthrough year, and a big part of that was due to finishing 2nd in the Vuelta,” she says. Only Annemiek van Vleuten was stronger than her that week, and she even flew to a solo stage win in A Rua. After a three-year spell in SD Worx, the Swiss rider is now spearheading a Spanish squad, Movistar Team, and will have to battle up for the overall win with defending champion and former teammate Demi Vollering
Supporting Vollering on her bid will be Évita Muzic (1999, France) - a rider who upset the Dutch star, precisely in La Vuelta Femenina 24 by Carrefour.es, by being quicker at the Laguna Negra mountaintop finish. “Everyone was amazed that I could defeat Demi in such a climb,” remembers the French talent. “It was eye-opening, as it showed how far I could go then and how far I may go in the future.”
Funnily enough, Vollering and her are now sharing the FDJ-Suez outfit. “We are happy we are on the same team, and looking forward to creating some beautiful memories together,” Muzic says. “There was a question mark over my participation in the Vuelta this year, but I asked to be lined up because it’s a race I really hold dear. Back in 2023, it was my first Grand Tour as a leader and enabled me to show my potential in that role. And last year, of course, I got to win a stage! On top of that, sharing the event with Demi and Juliette Labous is very exciting for me.” Even if the roster of contenders will be deep in numbers and talent, FDJ-Suez is expected to be the team to beat as far as La Roja (the overall leader red jersey) is concerned.
“La Vuelta Femenina has been very important for my definition as a rider,” says another star GC rider, Lidl-Trek’s Riejanne Markus (1994, the Netherlands), who was runner-up overall in 2024 and 4th in 2023. “I actually never perceived myself as a GC rider until I did my first Tour de France, three years ago, where I was not focused on the overall standings from the start and still finished 12th. The following season I came to the Vuelta actually hunting a GC result. I came out 4th and this performance gave me a lot of confidence. Reaching the podium last year was a dream come true, and now I really do believe that I can win a Grand Tour even though I’m also aware that it is a really hard goal to achieve.”
The Dutch climber is full of praise for the inclusion of climbs like Lagos de Covadonga, Cotobello or Lagunas de Neila in the course of La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es, a trend that is also noticeable in many other events on the women’s calendar. “I really like longer efforts, so I definitely enjoy finding more and more mountain days in stage races. It's something we needed in women’s cycling, in my opinion. Grand Tours have more variety now. They are better rounded out with big mountain stages on their route.”
“I’ve seen the route is very hard this year, and I’m very excited about it,” backs up Tiril Jørgensen (2000, Norway), an up-and-coming climber who races in the Coop-Repsol outfit. “La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es is one of my favorite races of the year. I just love the country, the roads, the spectators…” She entered the 2023 edition, and was unable to finish. “It was my first Grand Tour on its day, and just participating was a big deal. I came there a bit too eager to perform and crashed a few times. My shape was good, but it was ruined by crashes.” Jørgensen will be able to get that sour taste out of her mouth from May 4th, as her team has been invited to race and she has been allocated a spot on its line-up. “I want revenge,” she says jokingly.
A rider who knows first-hand how cruel and how kind La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es can be is Mireia Benito (1996, Spain). “It has made me improve—both the easy way and the hard way,” she says to sum up her relationship with the race. “In 2022, I crashed out because I ran into a loose bidon and I was forced to spend two weeks in bed because of the injuries. Then, last year I was awarded the Combativity prize and got to stand on the final podium alongside legends like Demi Vollering or Marianne Vos.”
“My most remarkable memory in this event is my breakaway last year on the way to Teruel,” she recalls. That day, Benito spent more than 120 kilometres alone at the head of the race. “And I enjoyed every second of it. I was especially amused in the final part, as I was already pretty empty and all but sure that I was going to get caught by the peloton. I could feel the appreciation of the spectators, and hear my name being yelled from the roadside in order to cheer me up. Then, after the race, many kids came to ask for my autograph and tell me that they wanted to be riders, like me.” That’s the best possible ending for a race - and for this feature, too.