The world’s best female cyclists are headed for Galicia as the ever-growing Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta moves from its original settings, around Madrid and through the streets of the Spanish capital, to the North-West of the Iberian Peninsula. After four days of racing, the winner of this seventh edition will be crowned in Santiago de Compostela, with the podium set on the iconic Praza do Obradoiro, in front of the cathedral, where and when the winner of the men’s Vuelta Ciclista a España will also be crowned.
This year, the race is extended to four days of action (2-5 September) and attracts its most star-studded start list since the event began as a one-day race in 2015 in the centre of Madrid.
“The new format has a good distribution with mountain stages, on the flat, and the 'cronoscalata' [uphill time-trial]”, smiled the Italian National Champion Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) ahead of her fourth participation in the Spanish event. “It's exciting.”
The Italian star, third in the road race at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, was second last year overall, after three stages. “The last stage was proper fun because Giorgia [Bronzini], our DS, basically told us we had to ride it as if it were a points race on the track, but a bit longer,” she recalls a year later.
Her efforts were not enough to edge Lisa Brennauer (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling), winner for the second consecutive year thanks to a dominant performance in the time trial. The young Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) was third overall after winning the first stage.
This time, the stars of the women’s peloton will face very different challenges. In this, the fourth stage race of the 2021 UCI Women’s WorldTour, the first three days of action are set around the ski resort of Montaña de Manzaneda, at an altitude of 1,490m, before the race heads to Santiago de Compostela on Sunday.
Wiebes suffered concussion in the recent Simac Ladies Tour (the Netherlands) but both Brennauer and Longo Borghini return to Spain for more battles. As well as the increased challenges awaiting them with the new race format, they will also face stronger opposition.
Twenty-four teams have sent their list of riders for the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta, for a total of 143 participants. Among them are big names such as the leader of the UCI Women’s WorldTour Ranking and double Tokyo 2020 medallist (silver in the road race and gold in the time trial) Annemiek van Vleuten, riding for Movistar Team Women. The Dutch rider is participating in the Spanish stage race for the second time, after she joined the Spanish team in 2020 and led them in their home event (6th).
Meanwhile, for reigning UCI World Champion Anna Van der Breggen, it will be her first participation, only a few weeks before she retires as a pro cyclist and moves into a sports director position for her current team, Team SD Worx.
Obviously, Van der Breggen doesn’t come to Galicia simply to tick another box in a bucket list of races to attend and regions to visit. A month after she took bronze in the time trial at the Olympic Games, and a couple of weeks before she defends her rainbow jerseys both in the road race and the individual time trial at the UCI Road World Championships (Flanders, Belgium), the Dutch star should be in great condition.
This year’s start list features other newcomers to the event, such as rising talents Kata Blanka Vas and leader of the UCI Women’s WorldTour Youth Ranking Niamh Fisher-Black (both from Team SD Worx), as well as Évita Muzic (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope), but also very well-established champions including Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope), Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon SRAM Racing) and Amanda Spratt (Team BikeExchange).
“I would like to have even more stages in the coming years to make it an even bigger event that will attract even more contenders,” Longo Borghini says. “But it’s already a success.”