The opening stage of the 2025 La Vuelta Femenina began with some strong riding but a chaotic period in the middle of the race as three teams – Movistar, Uno-X Mobility and Visma | Lease a Bike – found themselves embroiled in varying degrees of start ramp drama in Barcelona.
The 11th team to start their ride, whilst Movistar lined up for their start, they were conspicuously missing a rider. Cameras caught Marlen Reusser turning to Cat Ferguson, clearly puzzled, as the clock ticked down. Seconds later, the team began their descent from the ramp… minus Tota Magalhães, the Brazilian national champion. She eventually rolled off solo a few seconds later, already distanced from the rest of her teammates but able to catch back up. It later turned out that they’d been late to the process where UCI officials check that the TT bikes meet the regulations before racing.
That misstep came with consequences. Once the stage was over, the race jury confirmed that all seven Movistar riders and their DS Jorge Sanz Unzué were fined CHF200 each for failing to present bikes for equipment checks in time. The offence cited was ‘Art. 2.12.007-9.2 Bicycles and equipment not presented for checking at least 15 minutes before a rider’s or team’s start time in a time trial.’
Uno-X caught in the knock-on
For Uno-X Mobility, the disruption also came before the start line. As Anouska Koster later revealed on her personal site, the team were ready and on time for bike checks, but delayed by “the actions of one of the teams in front of us,” widely believed to be Movistar.
“We had no idea that we had to start already,” she explained. “No one indicated the time. So we were not yet in the starting position, so we were not yet clicked in and there was no countdown. In the end, we left 10 seconds late.”
Despite the shaky launch, Uno-X Mobility still managed 11th on the day, 24 seconds behind Lidl-Trek, the stage winners. Koster said they “all drove very strongly” once underway, but issues persisted with their team car stuck behind dropped riders from other teams, leading to missed communication and the loss of Linda Zanetti, who “was driving strongly.”
Visma | Lease a Bike’s seven-piece scramble to start
Then came the most chaotic start of all – Visma | Lease a Bike. Initially lining up with just five riders, a sixth eventually appeared moments before they started. But by the time the ramp was cleared, those five had already descended the slope.
Their seventh, Imogen Wolff, didn’t even go down the ramp – instead darting out from a service gap in the barriers typically reserved for vehicles. It was a clear procedural breach. Skipping the official start ramp is technically disqualifiable, but sensibly, no such action was taken. Instead, Visma | Lease a Bike joined the list of teams starting with a time deficit.
“Despite the situation the ladies were in, they rode a very good time trial. They started the time trial with five, but luckily Femke was able to join. The ladies battled to the finish and handled the conditions very well. They showed that the level is good. We are looking forward to the rest of the week, where hopefully we can show what we are worth,” sports director Jos van Emden said.
Visma | Lease a Bike ultimately finished 21 seconds behind stage winners Lidl-Trek, with some of that down to the way they started the stage. It was that loss which prompted Pauline Ferrand-Prévot to vent on Instagram in a post she quickly deleted. “WTF!!! How the organisation of a Grand Tour can be SO amateur???” she wrote. “We were there 20 min before the bike check and 2 of our girls didn’t make it one time… we kept saying to the jury we had to go but seems there were in chill mood 😴 … So much preparation and effort for nothing.”
Despite the knock-on effect to other teams, including Uno-X Mobility and Visma | Lease a Bike, Movistar only faced a small sanction, with that amounting to little more than a financial penalty. The two teams who didn’t cause an issue but still lost time today won’t feel satisfied that their loss is evened out by Movistar having to pay CHF1600.
