Mireia Benito, de la corte a la carretera abierta
April 7 th 2025 - 11:00 [GMT + 2]
For every rider in the women’s peloton, the upcoming start of La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es is a special occasion. It’s not every day that a city with such rich heritage closes its main streets to host a cycling race. But if there’s one rider for whom Sunday, May 4th, will be truly unforgettable, it’s Mireia Benito (1996, Llorenç del Penedès).
The Tarragona-born athlete is the only Catalan cyclist competing in the UCI Women’s WorldTour, the highest level of women’s road cycling, where she rides for AG Insurance-Soudal. At this elite tier, she is joined by just seven other Spanish riders: Mavi García (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) and Yurani Blanco (Human Powered Health), both from Mallorca; Sandra Alonso (Ceratizit-WNT), from Torrevieja in Alicante; and four Movistar Team riders—Sheyla Gutiérrez from La Rioja, Sara Martín from Burgos, and Cantabrian twin sisters Laura and Lucía Ruiz.
Mireia Benito’s journey to the elite ranks of road cycling has been anything but conventional. A dedicated athlete from a young age, she was a passionate basketball player until the age of 19, when a series of injuries forced her to rethink her path. On medical advice, she began cycling during the off-season to strengthen her lower body. What started as a simple recovery exercise quickly ignited a new ambition—one that led her to trade courts for open roads. Determined to pursue a professional cycling career, she balanced her training with a Bachelor's degree in Biotechnology at the University of Girona.
Benito first pinned a race number on her back with the Massi-Baix Ter cycling club, a team that once competed in La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es under a UCI Continental license and remains nowadays a dominant force in amateur racing. Guided by the team’s coaches and seasoned riders like Belén López, she developed a racing style defined by one key trait—courage.
A string of impressive breakaways showcased Benito’s talent and endurance, catching the attention of AG Insurance-Soudal, which signed her in view of the 2023 season. This first professional contract was the result of years of hard work—both on and off the bike. To cover her cycling expenses, she juggled several side jobs, from tutoring children to managing social media accounts for small businesses. Or, as she jokingly puts it, “AG Insurance made my childhood dream come true-having a job that lets me wear a tracksuit every single day!”
Benito’s only two victories as a pro were both landed in the Spanish National ITT Championships, on which she has excelled due to her powerful engine and her skills on the bike. Two years ago, she defeated the defending champion Mavi García by just one second. Last season, though, her triumph was unquestionable as she outpaced Sandra Alonso and the aforementioned García. This victory played a crucial role in achieving one of the biggest milestones of her career so far: earning a spot at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es has played a pivotal role in Mireia Benito’s development as a rider. “It made me improve—both the easy way and the hard way”, she reflects, alluding to how she crashed out of the 2022 edition and to the exciting breakaway she starred last year, when she rode solo for 122 kilometres on the way to Teruel and consequently received a well-deserved prize as the most aggressive rider of the event. She will be missing someone next May 4th: “My grandfather was born in Barcelona and was a huge cycling fan. He would have loved to see me race there.” His absence will add an emotional layer to her performance in the opening team time trial of the Spanish Grand Tour, where she will line up fresh from competing in the Ardennes Classics. Because cycling isn’t just about legs—it’s also about heart.