La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es : One day to go …
May 3 rd 2025 - 19:34 [GMT + 2]
· The team presentation of La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es was held at Barcelona’s Portal de la Pau on Saturday evening. It was a great opportunity for the fans to get acquainted with the 146 riders that are entering the Spanish Grand Tour spread over 21 teams.
· Amongst the participating squads, FDJ-Suez is probably the one to beat as it fields defending champion Demi Vollering, backed by two excellent GC riders like Juliette Labous and Évita Muzic. Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto, though, does also have a case with reining Tour de France winner Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney playing a “supportive role” for the benefit of up-and-coming star Neve Bradbury.
· Mavi García is leading the charge for both Liv-AlUla-Jayco and Spanish cycling as a whole. Three local teams like Movistar Team, Laboral Kutxa and Eneicat-CM Team ambition “to be seen” on an event that will be broadcast in all five continents.
Curtain raiser in Barcelona: “It’s going to be exciting until the very end”
La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es is starting on Sunday, May 4th with a 8,1-kilometre team time trial in the streets of Barcelona. Later will come six stages featuring some flat and rolling days - and a couple of mountain showdowns. “It’s a hard course, especially on its second half,” says race director Fernando Escartín. “Mountain stages are meant to decide the outcome of the event. Lagunas de Neila is a very tough climb, and the final stage to Cotobello is quite long and will really settle the affairs. It’s going to be an exciting race until the very end.” There is some treacherous terrain before the big climbs come - and also inbetween those. “As in Zaragoza last year, the wind can be a factor in the stages like Huesca or Baltanás. Teams must race really sharp if they don’t want to lose time.” Before that, all 21 teams need to deliver a good performance in Barcelona. “TTTs like this one demand a short, intense effort. We believe gaps won’t be significant. The opening day is mainly a beautiful curtain raiser in the very heart of a great city.”
146 riders representing 30 countries in La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es
The field in La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es will be as deep as 146 riders who will represent 30 different countries, with the Netherlands featuring a 30-strong cohort to top the nation ranking above Italy (17), France (12) and Spain (10). The youngest athlete in the start list is Visma | Lease a Bike’s Viktória Chladoňová, who will be 18 years and 171 days old on Sunday. The Slovakian was born in 2006, as were her teammate Imogen Wolff and Movistar Team’s Cat Ferguson - more on her later. All three are on the list of 41 debutants in the Spanish Grand Tour, where the name of multiple world champion Pauline Férrand-Prevot (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) stands out. On the other hand, the most veteran rider of the peloton will be Liv-AlUla-Jayco’s Mavi García, who is taking part in this event for the sixth time at 41 years and 123 days old.
FDJ-Suez keeping its many cards close to its chest
In any cycling race, it’s hard to argue that a team features the strongest squad on paper when it enters three riders who finished top5 overall the previous year as it’s the case for FDJ-Suez with Demi Vollering (1st overall at La Vuelta Femenina 24 by Carrefour.es), Juliette Labous (4th) and Évita Muzic (5th). “We have a strong squad, but we should not underestimate our rivals - we are quite even with some other teams,” says DS Lars Boom. “We start with a clear focus on the GC. We need to make sure everybody finishes with the same time in the TTT, and from then on we can begin making plans for the following days.” Is there a pecking order between your three GC cards? “Of course,” says Boom before laughing as to indicate he is not going to give away which. We then turn our attention to another force in FDJ’s formidable line-up: Ally Wollaston, a double world champion and double Olympic medalist on the track who also is one of the fastest sprinters in road cycling. A favorite for the bunch gallops expected this week? “Ally is here mainly to support our leaders and get stronger for the future,” says Boom. “She's riding uphill quite well at the moment. Contending in the sprints is also a possibility, but her main goal is to race hard throughout the Vuelta.”
Niewiadoma and Dygert “in a supportive role” on behalf of Bradbury
It is quite unusual for a reigning Tour de France winner and a 10-time world champion to ride a Grand Tour on team duty, but Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto has always been as bold, colourful and innovative as its outfit is. The German team wants several riders to share the GC leadership role during the season. As a result, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney is participating in La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es “in a supportive role,” despite her track record and the good shape he recently showed in the Ardennes classics. Australia’s Neve Bradbury is the team’s protected rider, a privilege he earned by finishing on the podium of four UCI Women’s WorldTour stage races - including the Giro d’Italia (3rd). “We're going to be working for Neve for GC, and we're really looking forward to it,” confirms teammate Chloé Dygert, twice a winner of the UCI ITT World Championships and owner of multiple world titles in the track who, despite suffering a head cold, is due to play a key role in the opening TTT. “My personal goal, just from how I'm feeling, is to finish the race. A lot of factors were limiting my performance last year - mainly, a new riding position that meant I could translate my power on the road bike, but I couldn't do it in the track nor in the TT position. We figured that out and it’s solved now. I feel really motivated to chase the world title and the world record in the Individual Pursuit, and to win the ITT World Championships again too.” La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es can well be a stepping stone for the American rider.
Mavi García: “I want to be on the pointy end of the race”
She has spearheaded Spanish women’s cycling for many years already, and will duly do so again at La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es. Mavi García (1984, Marratxí) is leading Liv-AlUla-Jayco’s charge for the general classification. “We are coming with a well-rounded team, including a pure sprinter in Georgia Baker, a talented powerhouse in Letizia Paternoster and an excellent climber in Monica Trinca Colonel,” describes the rider from Mallorca. “In previous editions, I felt I ran out of steam towards the final stages. We have decided to change my approach and race a bit less in the build-up, to see if I can perform better in the Vuelta by coming in fresher. If I have to pick a goal, I’d say finishing top5 overall would be a success. Anyway, what I really ambition is being on the pointy end of the race, fighting for stage wins and feeling well throughout the week.” García, who was already 9th in GC back in 2023, believes the wind can well create a selection in the flat and rolling stages, “but the mountain days are the ones which will really define the standings.”
Three Spanish teams hunting for glory in their home race
There will be 10 Spanish riders in the peloton of La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es - a two-rider increase compared to last year. The best part of them are spread over the three local teams who participate in the race. A Women’s WorldTour squad, Movistar Team is the more global of those and features Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser and Germany’s Liane Lippert as its joint leaders, although the name catching the most eyes is Cat Ferguson, a British rider who turned 19 just one week ago but has already impressed in cycling’s top tier. “I thought I would not do any Grand Tours this year,” admits the reigning junior world champion in both road race and ITT. “I would like to have an opportunity to try and win in a sprint, but my main priority is just to make the team happy.” At that moment, Reusser jokingly meddles in the interview: “We will be happy if you win a stage!”
Laboral Kutxa is equally enthused about the race. “I’m grateful we can have a grand tour at home,” says its road captain Ane Santesteban. “We have been quite unlucky this year, as we haven’t managed to translate our good shape into results.” The Basque UCI ProTeam intends to race aggressively: “We want to be seen this week.” The third and smaller Spanish squad in contention, Eneicat-CM Team, is taking a similar approach: “We want to feature in the breakaways and fight for the Combativity award,” claims its DS Humberto Gómez.
One country, five continents: La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es to reach global audience
The Spanish Grand Tour keeps gaining traction as live pictures of the race are going to be broadcasted in more territories than ever. The two-hour live signal will be offered by Eurosport all over Europe and Asia, as well as by RTVE / Teledeporte (Spain), RTBF (Belgium), TV2 (Denmark), NOS (the Netherlands), TV2 (Norway), Flobikes (Canada), NBC (USA), ESPN (Pan Latin America), SBS (Australia), JSports (Japan), Supersport (Pan Africa) and Abu Dhabi Sports (Pan MENA), who already showed the race last year. Joining the list in 2025 are three new broadcasters: OKKO (Russia), Señal Colombia (Colombia) and Sky NZ (New Zealand). Those who miss the live broadcast will be able to find race clips and highlights in many other media and platforms, including the race’s official social media channels (handle @lavueltafem, hashtag #LaVueltaFemenina) where a 5- to 8-minute highlights movie will be released every day in both English and Spanish. Last but not least, fans can find all the information and follow the race live on the official website lavueltafemenina.es