Grand Prix Stuttgart & Region 2024 History
The Grand Prix Stuttgart & Region hasn’t been on the women’s calendar for very long, with only one edition held before the 2024 version of the race. Elena Pirrone won it last year when the race was held as a lowest-level UCI race (1.2 category). Pirrone managed to get clear of the chasing peloton, which itself was split under the effort of the chase. The Italian, racing for Israel-Premier Tech, was able to take the win by 23 seconds ahead of Kathrin Schweinberger and Linda Riedmann on the podium. The latter being the highest-ranked German on home roads.
This year, sees the race jump up the rankings to become a 1.Pro level race. That’s the level just below the Women’s WorldTour and normally a holding pen for races which would love to be accepted into the top level of competition going forward. As a result of its elevation, the teams entered have also been upgraded. Whereas some teams sent their Development teams and riders last year, this year sees 10 WWT teams entered. Some are chasing points to stave off relegation at the end of next season and some looking to tune up riders before the World Championships take place soon.
Previous Winners
2023
Elena Pirrone
2022
Not held
2021
Not held
Grand Prix Stuttgart & Region 2024 Profile
TV Coverage
Sunday 15th September 2024
Live on SWR + ARD, maybe also on Youtube
12:05-15:30
All times in BST
Twitter: #GPStuttgart
Startlist: FirstCycling
Grand Prix Stuttgart & Region 2024 Contenders
For the most part, Chloe Dygert hasn’t quite fired up her sprint legs this season compared to the successful ones she had last year. There is hope though, her 2nd place at Classic Lorient Agglomération was a step in the right direction and was one of the few races she’s taken part in recently which hasn’t seen her crash at some point during proceedings. With the top tier of sprinters not here, Dygert will be one of the major race favourites, provided she can stay upright.
UAE Team ADQ will have a couple of options at the Grand Prix Stuttgart and Region this year. Eleonora Gasparrini will probably get the nod. She was 5th on the final stage of the Tour de Romandie Féminin and 6th at the Classic Lorient Agglomération recently to underline that she has some good form. She should be in the mix for the podium. Teammate Dominika Wlodarczyk is quick in her own right too, whilst providing some useful support. She was 6th in GC at the Tour de l’Ardeche, finishing in the top-10 on each stage. No mean feat given that there were time trials, sprints and climbs all involved. Gasparrini is the purer option here but if she gets into trouble, Wlodarczyk isn’t a bad Plan B to have at all.
Silvia Zanardi should be the best option for Human Powered Health here. The Italian is in some great form at the moment in the non-WWT level one-day races. She took the win at La Choralis Fourmies Feminine last weekend, coming off the back of top-10s at Grote Prijs Beerens and Konvert Kortrijk Koerse. The climbs here mid-race shouldn’t pose an issue to her either. There’s support from Lily Williams who we saw sprint well earlier in the season but was used to help pull a split clear at Grote Prijs Beerens and we might see her in that pulling role again. Ruth Edwards also can’t be discounted if the race does break up. She took the GC win at the Thüringen Ladies Tour on her last visit to Germany and there’s always a chance lightning strikes twice.
Visma | Lease a Bike will have a few options and may back Lieke Nooijen. She’s taken a few wins this year, including the Egmont Cycling Race and at the Princess Anna Vasa Tour, where her time trial win secured her the GC win ahead of teammate Riejanne Markus. Nienke Veenhoven is another option too and she’s got some good results recently. 3rd behind Nooijen at Egmont, 4th at Konvert Kortrijk Koerse and 8th at La Choralis Fourmies too. She’s a bit more of a purer sprinter than Nooijen so there is less guarantee she will make it in the front group over the climbs if they’re raced hard. Rosita Reijnhout also has the potential to surprise, finishing 12th on the final stage of the Tour de Romandie Féminin recently. She does her best work on rolling courses, managing to stay up there as the bunch is whittled down. Against this field, she could be an attacking threat as well as useful in a small group sprint.
Maria Giulia Confalonieri struggled a bit at the Tour de France Femmes but if she’s able to rediscover the form which saw her finish 6th at Kreiz Breizh Elites and take a pair of top-10s, peaking at 3rd, at the Thüringen Ladies Tour then the Italian will have a chance here for Uno-X Mobility. Anouska Koster is in better form for that team but because she doesn’t have a strong sprint, doesn’t always get the results her rides earn. She will be up for an attack though and see if rolling the dice pays off.
Ceratizit-WNT will try and engineer a sprint so that Martina Fidanza, who has won 3 races in 2024, can contest for them. The team is very much in points hunting mode so getting Fidanza up there with some extra points from someone like Mylene de Zoete after leading out would be much appreciated. De Zoete just finished 9th at La Choralis Fourmies and between the pair, they could sneak in 2 riders for the top-10 and potentially be in with a shout to take a win.
Last year’s winner Elena Pirrone returns. It will be a tough ask to retain her title though with a stronger field racing the Grand Prix Stuttgart & Region this season. She was 5th at Le Périgord Ladies at the end of July and that’s probably the best result that’s possible here too. The team may pivot to Maggie Coles-Lyster if a sprint looks likely with the Canadian a faster finisher. She had to leave the Tour de France Femmes early but did get an 8th on the 2nd stage there. She can look to recreate her last races in Germany at the Thüringen Ladies Tour, where she took 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 6th.
Eline Jansen will be confident after ticking off the first UCI win of her career on the final stage of the Tour de l’Ardeche a week or so ago. Jansen has been knocking on the door for it all season, with a few near misses and strong Women’s WorldTour level results like at the Tour of Britain. There will be another chance for a win here in the Grand Prix Stuttgart & Region too. Teammate Anne Knijnenburg is starting to come good again after a tough part of the season. She was 8th in GC at the Giro Toscana Int. Femminile and won the Queen of the Mountains jersey over in Italy. She will suit the finish more if it’s broken up into a smaller group.
Fenix-Denuinck has a few options here, Marthe Truyen has tallied up 4 top-10 results in a row recently, with 2nd at Schaal Sels the best, along with 5th at Grote Prijs Beerens and 5th at the GP Lucien van Impe too. She’s able to have a fast finish after a tough race and that should bode well here. Support comes through Evy Kuijpers, who won the GP Lucien van Impe, the high point of her own run of 4 top-10s in a row recently. She’s a rider who can help put pressure on other teams with a well-timed attack and force the group to be made smaller. Flora Perkins hasn’t finished in the top-10 since the Baloise Ladies Tour at the end of July. She missed out at the Tour de l’Avenir, was 11th at Grote Prijs Beerens and then had a quiet race in Romandie. She can perform a similar role to Kuijpers here.
Cat Ferguson got her Elites career off to a great start with 2nd at La Choralis Fourmies and wasn’t too far away from beating the winner Silvia Zanardi either. Ferguson has blitzed the junior races in the last 2 years, being easily one of the best juniors coming through. That’s why Movistar didn’t mind giving her a contract until the end of 2027. So far she’s shown that she has a good kick for the line – the start list is tougher here but who knows, maybe something special is possible.
Grand Prix Stuttgart & Region 2024 Outsiders
Camilla Rånes Bye has been coming through nicely this season for Team Coop-Repsol and showed that she can sprint with 4th at the Grote Prijs Beerens a couple of weeks ago. The Norwegian isn’t quite as strong on the climbs yet and if the race splits up, she might not find herself on the right side of a split. That said, the top-10 might still be possible here.
It’s very rare for Lidl-Trek riders to end up in the outsiders section but they’re missing one of their standout leaders for the Grand Prix Stuttgart & Region. Elynor Backstedt may get her chance to shine by leading as opportunities are thin on the ground this season. She was 3rd way back at Omloop van Borsele in the sprint there. It’s similar to Ava Holmgren, with the Canadian finishing 2nd on the final day of the Tour de Normandie but has been on and off the mountain bike this year. A quiet Avenir got her into shape for a bronze XCC MTB medal at the World Championships a couple of weeks ago, which may transfer back to into road form. Brodie Chapman may also get a chance to go on the attack and put pressure on her rivals. She’s not raced since the Giro in mid-July, where she successfully helped Elisa Longo Borghini take a GC win, a week or two after finishing 3rd in GC herself at the Thüringen Ladies Tour.
Top 3 Prediction
- Eleonora Gasparrini
- Silvia Zanardi
- Martina Fidanza
