Vuelta a Burgos Feminas 2024 History
Launched as a national-level event in 2015 and attaining UCI status by 2019, the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas quickly gained prominence within women’s cycling. Norwegian cyclist Stine Borgli became the inaugural UCI winner, competing on a course that lacked the now characteristic challenging summit finishes. By 2021, the event had ascended to the Women’s WorldTour, showcasing top-tier competition with cycling legends like Anna van der Breggen and Annemiek van Vleuten narrowly competing, with van der Breggen edging out van Vleuten by just three seconds.
The transformation of the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas included not only a hike in classification but also enhancements to the race’s structure, notably through the addition of significant summit finishes in 2021 and 2022. These challenging climbs, particularly at Lagunas de Neila, became both a spectacle and a logistical challenge, with TV coverage frequently limited to just the climactic moments. This limitation was stark during Demi Vollering’s dramatic ascent in 2022, where the broadcast captured only the final 500 metres of her victorious climb. That edition also saw the first time a Colombian had worn a WWT race leader’s jersey when Jennifer Tatiana Ducuara (main picture) finished 6th from the break on Stage 2. That was enough to see her earn a lead of 6 seconds and set some history.
In 2023, the race continued to innovate and excite, highlighted by Lorena Wiebes’ thrilling victory in the inaugural stage, out-sprinting rivals once more. Despite controversies such as Wiebes’ relegation in Stage 2 for a sprinting infringement, the race’s narrative became one where SD Worx was dominating. Vollering’s victory in the general classification, emphasised by her repeat victory at Lagunas de Neila, showcased the team’s power in the biggest races once more.
Previous Winners
Vuelta a Burgos Feminas 2024 Stage Profiles
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
TV Coverage
Thursday 16th May – Sunday 19th May 2024
Live on Eurosport/Discovery+ across Europe
Stage 1: 13:30-15:00
Stage 2: 13:30-15:00
Stage 3: 13:30-15:00
Stage 4: 13:30-15:00
All times in BST
Twitter: #VueltaBurgos
Startlist: FirstCycling
Vuelta a Burgos Feminas 2024 Contenders
SD Worx will be looking to win again and will be favourites to do just that as well. They’re bringing the winner of last year’s race who has shown her good form in Spain by winning the Vuelta Femenina and Itzulia Women in the last couple of weeks. Demi Vollering will therefore be the big GC favourite here unless they decide it’s possible to engineer a victory for another rider, probably Marlen Reusser, like they did in last year’s Itzulia Women. The major climb here isn’t quite as daunting as say the Lagunas de Neila so it’s one to keep an eye on. Lorena Wiebes will certainly have options with certainly at least 2 stage wins possible this year. She got herself demoted from one win last year and will be looking to put that right with multiple wins in the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas this year.
Lidl-Trek will be hoping for a GC performance from Shirin van Anrooij but she just struggled slightly at Itzulia Women. 13th overall was ok and largely down to note getting a bonus second or two but she was lucky to get that result after being repeatedly dropped on the steep climbs and the parcours allowed for a return to the front group. She will do ok but can’t see her challenging for the win. So Lidl-Trek might get the most joy from Elisa Balsamo. Her first race since finishing 2nd at Paris Roubaix Femmes, the sprint train including both of Clara Copponi and Ilaria Sanguineti should drop her off at some pace.
Elise Chabbey had a very good Itzulia Women for Canyon SRAM in her first racing since the Spring ended. The Swiss rider finished 5th overall with a pair of top-10 stage finishes too. With other teammates like Kasia Niewiadoma sidelined at the moment it’s a chance for her to take chances as the GC leader. Teammates Soraya Paladin and Maike van der Duin will contest the sprints, with Paladin more likely to contest Stage 4 and Van der Duin the pair of easier sprints on Stage 1 and 3. Van der Duin only contested 1 sprint at the Vuelta Femenina, finishing 6th on Stage 4 but there weren’t too many opportunities in a tough race. Soraya Paladin won’t be interested in the flatter sprints but could make an appearance if she crests the final climb well on the final day, we’ve seen her more than capable of top-10s already this year. It also looks like we might see the return of Neve Bradbury who looked set for a great Spain month after going well in the Ardennes and the UAE Tour Women back in February. After being ill she may not quite yet be at full race fitness.
Ella Wyllie retained her best young rider jersey win at Itzulia Women last week. She won it in 2023 with Lifeplus-Wahoo and thanks to bonus seconds was able to pull out a 2-second lead on Shirin van Anrooij on the final stage. The Kiwi would finish 10th overall in the Basque Country. She is the team’s best climbing chance here with Mavi Garcia set for a rest. For the flatter finishes, there’s a wealth of options including Ruby Roseman-Gannon, Alex Manly and Amber Pate. It’s the first time we’ll have seen Roseman-Gannon since she crashed and cut up her legs at Nokere Koerse 2 months ago. In the meantime, Alex Manly has finished 3rd at Brabantse Pijl and Amber Pate 7th on the opening stage of Itzulia Women. They will ride the hot hand in the finishes at Vuelta a Burgos Feminas.
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig is back racing again after 3 months out with a fractured sacrum. She had an encouraging 19th at Durango Durango but it’s probably too early to expect her to be pulling up trees and so we’ll see her support Evita Muzic no doubt. The French rider is in some good form at the moment and finished 2nd in the rain at Durango Durango this week to go with her recent stage win and 5th in GC at the Vuelta Femenina. After beating Demi Vollering to that stage win she will be confident about pulling it off again here on Stage 2 and will need to avoid time loss on the flatter stages.
UAE Team ADQ is coming into form at the right time and is probably stage-hunting here. We saw Karlijn Swinkels take a great 3rd place on an early stage of the Vuelta Femenina before challenging for the QoM jersey as the race went on. Silvia Persico will have got some confidence from winning GP de Plumelec-Morbihan recently, managing to make a late bridge across to the front group before proving she was the strongest rider on the day. Polish rider Dominika Wlodarczyk put in a big turn that day before finishing 9th herself. Her best recent result has been 4th at Navarra Elite Classics, finishing well behind a solo winner. Persico is the most likely to finish highly in GC but it will be about stumping Wiebes and winning Stage 4 for them.
Uno-X Mobility will hope for a GC top-10 but I think it’s more likely they go on the hunt for a strong stage finish. They’ve got the likes of Katrine Aalerud for a hilly finish, Solbjørk Minke Anderson and Simone Boilard for those rolling terrain finishes and Maria Giulia Confalonieri to sprint. Recent form is potentially a sticking block but there are a couple of upsides in the 3rd place Aalerud scored at Festival Elsy Jacobs a Garnich and the 17th Solbjørk Minke Anderson got at Liege-Bastogne-Liege. We know at her best that Confalonieri could be a top-5 stage finisher here, whereas we have to think of everyone else as potential wildcards who might do well.
After a strong Vuelta Femenina, it was a quieter Itzulia Women for Pauliena Rooijakkers. The stage design didn’t work in her favour with lots of flat finishes rather than late climbs. She was 19th in GC but that hides the fact she was a couple of bonus seconds away from the bottom of the top-10. Stage 2 here will suit her a lot more and I’d expect to see a decent finish that maybe creeps into top-5 upside potential but won’t be too far away from that if not.
Liane Lippert is coming back into fitness at the moment and was solid at the Vuelta with a best stage result of 12th on Stage 3. We saw her go on the attack and support teammates at Navarra Elite Classics on her way to 23rd there. She’s not worlds away from where she needs to be but it’s tough to see a particularly strong GC finish just yet. There are opportunities here though for her if she’s on a flyer. Emma Norsgaard is hopefully recovered after leaving the Vuelta Femenina early due to a crash near the end of Stage 2. She ended up at the bottom of a pile of riders that day and wasn’t able to continue the next day. Keen to dispel the notion that she’s a sprinter, there might be something in Stage 1 that allows her to get clear and make a move for a stage win.
It’s been a quiet European season for Tamara Dronova but she did take her best result so far recently at Navarra Elite Classics. She took 12th there, finishing mid-pack in the chasing group behind lone leader Hannah Ludwig. She matched that result 2 days later at Itzulia Women too but left the race early. At the moment she feels like a long-shot for the top 10.
Noemi Rüegg might be back to her early season form after finishing 8th at Durango Durango this week. The Swiss rider picked up a win and podiums in the early weeks of the 2024 season but has been largely quiet since. There might be opportunities here. Letizia Borghesi was also 9th at Durango Durango for her best result since the end of January.
Josie Nelson has been going well recently and her 4th place on the opening stage of Itzulia Women was her first Women’s WorldTour top-10 finish since the early part of the 2023 season. She will get opportunities here with Stage 1 at Vuelta a Burgos Feminas looking reasonably similar in profile. Teammate Megan Jastrab might get a nod on the flatter finishes but it’s also her first race in 2024 after fracturing her pelvis around February time. She may just be riding back into form here and supporting the in-form Nelson instead.
Vuelta a Burgos Feminas 2024 Outsiders
Laboral Kutxa aren’t bringing Ane Santesteban to the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas so there will be opportunities to get in breaks and sprints for the riders who are going. That includes the likes of Laura Tomasi (5th at Clasica de Almeria & 8th at Trofeo Felanitx-Colonia de Sant Jordi), Debora Silvestri (17th at GP Feminin de Chambery) and Cristina Tonetti (8th on Tour de Normandie Femenin Stage 3). For the flatter finishes, I expect Tomasi to get the main shout with other stages available for Silvestri and Tonetti to impress.
Valentina Basilico will probably get a mention in a good few outsider sections just because of the wins she racked up in Central America a month or two ago. The Italian took 4 UCI wins in 2 weeks before coming back and being largely anonymous in the Vuelta Femenina. She might be more likely to be spotted in the breakaway here even if she does have a fairly fast finish.
Top 3 Prediction
- Demi Vollering
- Evita Muzic
- Marlen Reusser
