Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Del Sol Women 2024 Race Preview

Mathew Mitchell

Published on May 27, 2024
in Women's Cycling

Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Del Sol Women 2024 History

The 2024 Vuelta Andalucia Ruta del Sol Women is set to be a major edition of this growing race. The 3rd edition of the race since its inception in 2022. The race has quickly gained attention, partly thanks to the calibre of the riders racing for the GC and has become an important part of the Spanish women’s cycling calendar. Arlenis Sierra was able to win the inaugural edition with Movistar able to retain the title last year with Katrine Aalerud.

Table of Contents

This year’s route is especially notable, featuring the longest stage in the race’s history. This second stage spans over 145 kilometres, travelling through the provinces of Jaén and Granada. Featuring a kicker at the end, it’s likely to see more time gaps after a tough opening stage which features a sawtooth profile. From there, stages 3 and 4 should end in sprints but probably reduced group ones with late climbs sure to split up the peloton.

Previous Winners

2023
Katrine Aalerud
2022
Arlenis Sierra
2021
Not held

Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Del Sol Women 2024 Stage Profiles

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

TV Coverage

Wednesday 29th May – Saturday 1st June 2024

No live TV coverage
RaceCentre

Stage 1: 11:00-14:15
Stage 2: 10:25-14:10
Stage 3: 12:15-14:30
Stage 4: 11:10-14:00

All times in BST

Twitter: #VCAWomen

Startlist: FirstCycling

Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Del Sol Women 2024 Contenders

Starting with last year’s winner Katrine Aalerud, the Norwegian is starting to come into some form. 5th at Durango Durango after 3rd at Festival Elsy Jacobs Garnich came at an encouraging time. She was in the lead of the QoM competition at Vuelta a Burgos but had to leave the race after a badly cut finger. She should hopefully be good to go here. Mie Bjørndal Ottestad was 2nd in last year’s race and won the final stage for good measure. She has skipped all of Spain month after a quiet Ardennes campaign. Before then though she won the Tour de Normandie by a single second. In the sprinty stages, the likes of Simone Boilard and Anouska Koster will look to contest. Boilard hasn’t finished in the top 10 since January but has been a regular finisher in the teens since then. Koster loves to attack but had her best results in Luxembourg in both festival Elsy Jacobs races with 3rd and 7th.

Arlenis Sierra dominated the first edition in 2022, winning 2 of the 3 stages and the overall GC, but skipped the race in 2023. She’s been having a good consistent season so far, missing a victory but has 4 second places in the books. A repeat GC win feels tough but there are stages that look absolutely perfect for the Cuban. She will have support from Floortje Mackaij and Paula Patino too. The latter just finished 10th at GP de Eibar but should be largely in a support role here. It’s a similar situation with Mackaij who helped launch an attack with Baril at Eibar before finishing 13th. She’s been doing okay but so far hasn’t had the luck to turn an attack into a win or podium yet in 2024. Jelena Eric won a stage here in 2022 but it’s tough to see her be at a finish without Sierra this year.

Henrietta Christie took her best European recent at GP de Eibar, making a go for the line that ultimately came up short in the final 300-400 metres. The Kiwi has been knocking on the door for a while and was 7th earlier this year at the Clasica de Almeria. She should climb well against this field. Teammate Yulia Biriukova went on an early long solo break in that break too which helped to take the pressure off the team and put it squarely onto Movistar. She was 2nd at Clasica de Almeria earlier in the year and some of these stages suit the Ukrainian. Linda Zanetti will also suit those rolling sprint stages despite being a little bit quieter since the spring.

Fresh off her win at GP de Eibar is Yurani Blanco Calbert. Finishing on a tough climb, she timed her move perfectly to reel in and pass Henrietta Christie before the finish line. That should put her in good stead here with a boost of confidence maybe making her a GC podium shout. Teammate Lourdes Oyarbide should be in a supporting role but does alright on the climbs too with a best finish of 11th this year in Almeria. The likes of Nadia Quagliotto and Cristina Tonetti will challenge on those rolling sprint days. Qualigotto started the season on fire with a run of strong places in Spain but has found results harder to come by since. 10th on the first day at Itzulia Women is hopefully a good sign though. Cristina Tonetti was 11th on the first day of Vuelta a Burgos herself, with that her best result since coming back from breaking her collarbone at the Tour de Normandie in March.

Mavi Garcia had a tough Vuelta where it seemed like she was off form at just the wrong moment. Having gone through the spring chipping away in a relatively quiet Ardennes period, she was one of the first big names to drop on each stage of the Vuelta. She put some of those demons to bet however at Itzulia Women where she finished 4th in GC, finishing 2nd on the 2nd stage. That hopefully means she’ll be a contender here. Teammate Ella Wyllie has been going well in the meantime too, winning the youth jersey at Itzulia Women and 10th in GC. She followed it up with 9th in GC at the Vuelta a Burgos as well and there’s another top-10 on the cards here. The team’s sprinting option will be Alex Manly who took a 5th place recently at Vuelta a Burgos. She often works in tandem with others but here she’s the clear-cut option and could get a stage win.

Tamara Dronova went well here last season, winning the opening two stages and being in the leader’s jersey until the final day where she slipped to 3rd. It’s been a fairly quiet season for her so far, with the bulk of her best results coming in the racing in El Salvador. She’s been a regular finisher in the teens but could make a return to the top-10 here. The sprints should be covered by Maggie Coles-Lyster who maybe just struggled a little bit more than expected in the Vuelta. Whilst that race wasn’t particularly sprinter-friendly, the wind also made it difficult to take advantage of the flatter days. She looked good earlier in the year when finishing 5th at Ronde de Mouscron and 10th at Gent Wevelgem.

Racing for the Spanish National team at the GP de Eibar, Mireia Benito took her opportunity and finished 4th there. Known as a good climber, she’s been mainly working for others on her team, AG Insurance-Soudal, this year. Hopefully, she’s able to deliver some more strong results in Andalucia too.

The UAE Development Team normally has someone racing down from the WorldTour team that is the obvious favourite but that role is taken by Lizzie Holden here. On her day, she’s a strong rolling climber but is usually pressed into the service of others. Her best result of 2024 so far is 22nd at Trofeo Palma. Federica Piergiovanni might get the best shout for the team. She was 13th in GC at the Giro Mediterraneo in Rosa with a pair of top-10 stages finishes there. She also finished 14th in GC at the Vuelta Extremadura too. She will have a chance to break the top-10. Carlotta Cipressi is also worth keeping an eye on, particularly on the rolling, sprint stages.

Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Del Sol Women 2024 Outsiders

Awen Roberts also impressed in Eibar racing for Canyon SRAM Generation. The Welsh rider was in the final winning group but just dropped around a kilometre from the summit. She still hung on though to finish 7th, the best UCI result of her debut Elites season. She’s also been 5th at the domestic GP Cidade de Pontevedra and 7th at the Lincoln GP

Leonie Laubig didn’t have a good Vuelta a Burgos but has been a consistent finisher in other races this season. She was 7th in GC at the Trofeo Ponente in Rosa, including 3rd on Stage 2, before regularly finishing in around 15-30th place in most of her other races. The German rider might not be a GC contender but there is a good stage finish incoming.

Another rider who impressed at GP de Eibar was Selene Colombi. She climbed well to 11th place that day, comfortably her best result of the season so far. It’s her first season in the pro ranks after taking part in the Bike Abu Dhabi last year, also finishing 11th there. Tota Magalhaes has been climbing well this year too, finishing 3rd on the final day at the Trofeo Ponente in Rosa to 16th in GC. It’s the same spot she finished in the rain at Durango Durango recently too. She’s flown out to Brazil in the last week to race the PanAmerica Conti Champs, finishing 11th with her teammate 2nd.