The women start their first Grand Tour of the year today: now that Annemiek van Vleuten is no longer there, all eyes are focused on one person

Barely a week after Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the majority of the women’s peloton is already at the start of the Tour of Spain for women. Title defender Annemiek van Vleuten has now retired and so Demi Vollering is, once again, the leading candidate for final victory.

The champion of the Netherlands has just suffered some disappointments. If she won the Ardennes triptych last year – Amstel, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège – Vollering was left empty-handed this time. In the shortened Amstel she completely followed Lorena Wiebes, on the Wall of Huy she had to give up on Kasia Niewiadoma and in Liège she waited too long to launch her sprint so that she ultimately only finished third and dropped off with tearful eyes. .

And so Demi Vollering has something to put right. Last year she missed the overall victory in the Vualta for women by just nine seconds. A final victory would somewhat make up for a partially missed spring. She cannot count on Lotte Kopecky’s support. The world champion will take a rest period and will soon start her preparation for the Tour of Italy and the Olympic Games.

The biggest resistance comes from the women who have made her life miserable in recent weeks. The inevitable Lidl-Trek sends the winner of the Tour of Flanders to Spain with Elisa Longo Borghini, supported by Gaia Realini who finished third in Spain last year. The winner of the Flèche Wallonne, Kasia Niewiadoma, will also be present. She proved that Taylor Phinney’s girlfriend can ride a classification last year with a third place in the Tour de France.

With AG Insurance – Soudal (Moolman, Ghekiere), Fenix ​​- Deceuninck (Kastelijn) and Lotto Dstny (De Jong, Bastiaensen, De Keersmaeker), three Belgian women’s teams are also at the start. The Vuelta starts with a team time trial of sixteen kilometers in and around Valencia. The decision will be made in stages six and eight with uphill finishes at La Laguna Negra and especially Valdesqui.