A quick preview look at Volta a Portugal Feminina Cofidis 2024

Mathew Mitchell

Published on June 30, 2024
in Women's Cycling

The Volta a Portugal Feminina Portugal is finally a UCI race! It’s been quietly doing a great job at the national level ever since Covid, with 3 editions taking place and immediately getting foreign teams to come over to Portugal and take part. Raquel Queirós won the GC of the first edition, and despite being known much more for her mountain bike exploits since then, was the 2020 Portuguese national TT champion as well. Brits did well in the race, with Danni Shrosbree (now a full-time gravel racer) winning the opening stage and Lucy Lee the final stage. Those wins sandwiched the pair of wins by Raquel Queirós.

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The 2022 edition was dominated by Natalie Eklund. The Swedish rider won all 4 stages and the GC but only beat her Massi-Tactic teammate Mireia Benito by 18 seconds. Both riders are now on WorldTour teams and it shows that the Volta a Portugal Feminina can be a place to spot talents as well. Massi-Tactic also went 1-2 in GC last year for good measure. The Spanish team saw their Russian rider Valeria Valgonen win the GC by 20 seconds over Miryam Nunez. The latter rider from Ecuador won a pair of the stages, including the opening prologue but Valgonen won on the final day to add to the bonus seconds she’d picked up along the way with consistent top-3 stage finishes.

Now held at 2.2 level, the lowest UCI race level, the startlist has improved in quality. The likes of Arkea-B&B Hotels are bringing a strong team from France, with others coming from Italy, America, the UK, Spain, Panama and Norway this year.