The first Grand Tour of the 2025 season is upon us with the seven-day La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es set to begin with a team time trial on May 5 in Barcelona, where the prestigious team victory and the first red leader's jersey will be on the line.
The 2025 La Vuelta Femenina will begin on the Mediterranean coast in Barcelona and cross 748 kilometres to the west for a mountaintop finale at Cotobello in the Asturias. Along the way, there will be three mountain stages and three rolling stages to determine the overall champion on May 10.
Demi Vollering will line up as the defending champion and the outright favourite. However, her team, FDJ-SUEZ, arrives at this stage race with several cards to play when it comes to stage wins and the general classification.
The official start list is now available, and last-minute announcements from several teams, including SD Worx-Protime and Lidl-Trek, are now complete.
Cyclingnews has selected the confirmed riders to watch for the 2025 La Vuelta Femenina.
Demi Vollering, Juliette Labous, Évita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ)
Demi Vollering lines up as the favourite for a repeat victory at La Vuelta Femenina based on her performance during this block of the season last year where she won all three Spanish stage races: La Vuelta, Itzulia Women and Vuelta a Burgos.
She has, once again, had a strong Spring Classic campaign with her new outfit FDJ-SUEZ supporting her to victories at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana, Strade Bianche, along with podiums at Omloop, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Vollering will undoubtedly take some time to recover before turning her attention to these spring stage races, again, beginning with La Vuelta, as she aims for a title defence.
But, while the course and the climbs are well-suited to Vollering, FDJ-SUEZ is arguably the strongest team in the race, with two other cards to play in the general classification, Juliette Labous and Évita Muzic.
They were all on rival teams in last year's La Vuelta and all raced into the top five but together on FDJ-SUEZ they will be a tough team to beat in the mountains. They are all capable of winning stages and racing among the selection on the challenging parcours.
Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protome)
Anna van der Breggen has had a whirlwind start to her comeback year with SD Worx-Protime after taking three years away from the sport. She has stated that her form is not where it needs to be this spring, but she has shown glimmers of her previous strength with a third place overall at Setmana Valenciana and second at Strade Bianche.
While she was ill during the Ardennes Classics, the team will still aim for Van der Breggen to be their primary GC card at La Vuelta Femenina where her vast tactical racing experience and climbing strengths will play a role in their efforts during the seven days of racing.
There is more to Grand Tour GC racing than just out-climbing rivals, and as a former four-time winner of the Giro d'Italia who also directed SD Worx to podiums and victories at the Tour de France Femmes, Van der Breggen will automatically become one of Vollering's biggest rivals at this stage race.
Neve Bradbury and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto)
Neve Bradbury will lead the Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto team at La Vuelta, with Tour de France champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney opting to play a support role for this Grand Tour.
At 23, Bradbury is one of the fastest rising talents in the peloton, having won a stage of the Giro d'Italia and Tour de Suisse last year, but even more impressively finishing on the overall podiums at the Tour Down Under, UAE Tour, Giro d'Italia and Tour de Suisse.
She's had a strong start to the season with eighth overall at the Tour Down Under before tackling two of the Ardennes Classics. Although her performances in the one-day races weren't as strong as she had hoped, she has prepared for the stage racing season and will be one to watch for the mountain stages.
Niewiadoma-Phinney has confirmed that she will not lead the team at La Vuelta, but will instead share her experience in a support role for her teammates. She admitted that she was not satisfied with her performances this spring and was not prepared for the GC role for the fast-approaching Grand Tour, but she is still hoping for a great week of racing for her team.
The team also fields Chloé Dygert, and a strong team time trial performance could see the US rider in the first leader's jersey.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease a Bike)
La Vuelta Femenina marks the first Grand Tour for Pauline Ferrand-Prévot in her comeback to professional road racing. While she came into the season with form that was somewhat of an unknown among the road peloton, she ended up turning heads with a stellar Spring Classics campaign that included third at Strade Bianche, second at Tour of Flanders and victory at Paris-Roubaix.
Ferrand-Prévot retired from a sparkling mountain bike career after winning gold at the Paris Olympics, and returned to her road racing roots with Visma-Lease a Bike. The French rider is a 15-time world champion across road, cyclocross, mountain bike and gravel racing.
Her history in road racing is undeniable, not only a former world champion, but also a challenger in the biggest stage races while competing with teams Rabobank and Canyon-SRAM from 2012 to 2019. Her success in stage racing includes overall victory at the former Emakumeen Bira and second overall at the Giro d'Italia, both in 2014.
She opened this season with a 'warm-up' stage race at the UAE Tour Women, before tackling the one-day races this spring. Her performances on the road thus far have only strengthened her position as a major contender across challenging terrain. So far, there isn't anything Ferrand-Prévot cannot do and, while stage racing will bring a different range of challenges, she should not be underestimated in the hunt for the red jersey.
Ferrand-Prévot lines up with her compatriot Marion Bunel, who is also a contender for the overall and for stage wins. She is a powerful climber and will likely be targeting the two mountaintop finishes on stage 5 to Lagunas de Neila and stage 7 to Alto de Cotobello.
Riejanne Markus and Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek)
Two of Lidl-Trek's newest signings, Riejanne Markus (from Visma-Lease a Bike) and Niamh Fisher-Black (from SD Worx), will give the US-reigstered team a boost at this year's La Vuelta Femenina.
Markus finished second overall behind Vollering in last year's edition and will undoubtedly want to improve on that result, or at least try. She turned heads in several races last year with fifth overall at Tour de Normandie, and won Veenendaal Classic, second overall at Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and Princess Anna Vasa Tour and won a stage at Tour de Romandie.
But it was her performance at La Vuelta that really stood out because of her consistency across the eight days of racing and then staying among the top climbers on the mountain stages to Alto del Fuerte Rapitán, La Laguna Negra and Valdesquí, sealing her podium spot on the final day.
Lidl-Trek will also bring a pure climber to La Vuelta, who will not only be a contender for mountain stage wins but also a card to play for the overall GC in Fisher-Black. She is a GC contender in major mountain stage races and a stage winner at the Giro d'Italia and Tour de Suisse.
This year, Fisher-Black has secured top 10s at Strade Bianche, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, which shows that her form is at top level heading into the stage racing season.
Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck)
Pauliena Rooijakkers' third-place overall podium finish at the Tour de France Femmes last year was one of the biggest results of her career and has made her one of the favourites for nearly every mountain stage race she lines up for in 2025.
She switched teams two years ago from Canyon-SRAM to Fenix-Deceuninck, which has proven to be a solid career move because she has much more leadership opportunity and freedom in the Belgian team.
It wasn't just her second-place finish on Alpe d'Huez and third place overall at the Tour that turned heads, but also fourth overall at the Giro d'Italia and ninth overall at La Vuelta.
This year, she has had a good start to the season with a pair of 13th places at Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but she had similar performances in the run-up to the Vuelta last year.
Fenix-Deceuninck will also field Yara Kastelijn, who is a formidable climber and breakaway rider, and also one to look out for in the team's hunt for stage wins.
Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ)
Italian rider Erica Magnaldi will transition into a leadership role for La Vuelta Femenina. She will line up with a support team that includes Greta Marturano, Brodie Chapman, Lara Gillespie, Maeva Squiban, Alona Ivanchenko, and Lizzie Holden.
She often supports her teammate, Giro d'Italia winner Elisa Longo Borghini, who has had a strong early season and finished third overall at last year's Vuelta but has opted to skip the Spanish race this year as she targets other events later in the summer.
Magnaldi will be a formidable contender at the Vuelta and has experience finishing on the podium in other major stage races, such as the former Tour of California and Tour de l'Ardèche. More recently, she finished 5th overall at the 2023 Giro d'Italia.
She is also one to watch for stage wins, having proven herself by finishing on the podium in stages of the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Burgos.
Mavi García (Liv Jayco AlUla)
Mavi García will line up as one of Spain's top contenders for the overall classification at La Vuelta Femenina. Racing for Liv Jayco AlUla, the former Spanish champion will be familiar with these roads having trained on them during her tenure in pro cycling and competed in several versions of this race.
Her highest place at La Vuelta Femenina was 9th in 2023 when the race moved into a seven-day format in May. Although she finished 20th last year, she will still be one of the main riders to watch as the leader of her team.
García is an all-rounder who often enjoys being part of the action and the breakaways. She excels in time trials, mid-mountain and high-mountain stages, making this La Vuelta Femenina a perfect combination for a rider like García.
She is coming out of the Spring Classics having placed fifth at Strade Bianche, but she hasn't raced since Milan-San Remo and will have likely opted to spend time training for this important block of Spanish racing that starts at La Vuelta but continues at Itzulia and Burgos.
Marlen Reusser and Liane Lippert (Movistar)
Marlen Reusser and Liane Lippert make a powerful duo for this stage race, showcasing different yet compatible strengths that together will suit this parcours right from the team time trial to the punchy mid-mountains.
In her first season with Movistar, Reusser will likely target La Vuelta given it is a key race for the home team. While her strengths are in time trialling and breakaways, the Swiss rider has already proved herself at this event, having finished 13th while racing to support Vollering and SD Worx-Protime in last year's edition.
Reusser will undoubtedly have more opportunities to race for the general classification this year. Movistar enters the race with options for the overall and stage wins, but the team could end up with Reusser in the leader's jersey after the opening team time trial.
Still, the team also have Lippert, who is a potential stage winner, along with riders like Sara Martín, Olivia Baril, and Mareille Meijering, who could all challenge in the hilly terrain.
