Ten years ago, the Vuelta started as La Madrid Challenge, a one-day race held on the same day as the last stage of the men’s Vuelta a España, but since 2015 it has evolved into a week-long race. Originally coinciding with the men’s three-week race, the race organisers decided that the women’s race should be a proper tour of its own with a whole week of racing, and it’s now held in May, three months before the men’s race in August/September. With the expanded format, the race naturally transformed from one dominated by sprinters like Jolien D'hoore to one won by stage racing specialists like Annemiek van Vleuten and Demi Vollering.
After the former’s retirement at the end of the 2023 season, the latter has very much taken up the mantle as the preeminent stage racer in the peloton and as the defending champion, she comes into the race as the standout favourite. However, she won’t have it all her own way, as the race is regarded as one of the most important races in the Women’s WorldTour calendar it attracts the world’s best riders to the start line, all looking to take glory on the Spanish roads and claim the leader’s red jersey — el maillot rojo.
La Vuelta a España Femenina Route 2025
La Vuelta a España Femenina format has gone through several iterations in its short history, from the one-day flat race from 2015 to 2017 to a two-day race, which included an individual time trial and a flat stage into Madrid. However, it wasn’t until 2021 when the race really began to come into its own, with a unique identity, moving away from Madrid and into the mountains of northern Spain for a four-day race. This format has been expanded on in recent years, and with it, the Grand Tour has established its own prestige in the WorldTour calendar.
This year promises to be another intriguing edition with an exciting mixture of flat, lumpy, and mountainous stages across northern Spain, kicking off with a team time trial in Barcelona on Sunday, May 4 and finishing atop the 10km at 8% Alto de Cotobello in Asturias on Saturday, May 10. Between Catalunya and Asturias, there are five stages passing through the Aragon, La Rioja and Castile y León regions.
The Barcelona team time trial will be the first opportunity for the strongest squads to show their collective power and expertise on the 8.1km flat course, which is not particularly technical. The time gaps shouldn’t be too big, but if a team leader were to have any difficulties like a mechanical issue, they could lose time. Stage two from Molins de Rei to Sant Boi de Llobregat is also held in Catalunya, and although it features a couple of small climbs, it will likely end in a bunch sprint.
The race then heads inland on stage three for a lumpy route between Barbastro and Huesca, which although doesn’t have any categorised climbs, could be a hard day in what can be an exposed and hot area even this early in the summer. Stage four is the first introduction of some more serious climbing, with the route taking on two categorised climbs in the Moncayo area, the last of which — the Puerto de El Buste (4.5km at 5.6%) — comes with 20km to go, but its likely the GC contenders will save their bullets for what it to come in the following days.
Stage five is the first of two summit finishes atop the savage 6.5km 9.1% Category one climb to Lagunas de Neila in the Sierra de la Demanda mountain range. We can expect some decisive moves on the GC on this final climb, which is also preceded by the challenging Alto de Rozavientos (3.8km at 7.6%). Stage six may not be a mountainous day, but the route between Becerril de Campos and Baltanás is far from flat and with a number of short lumps coming into the finish, a lot of teams will be nervous about missing any potential splits.
The final day is in the Asturias region which is notorious for its hard climbs. Indeed, the final act of the Vuelta will be played out on the Alto de Cotobello (10km at 8%) where the overall leader of el maillot rojo will be decided.
La Vuelta a España Femenina Route 2025 (Map: La Vuelta by Carrefour.es)
Contenders
Demi Vollering
The defending champion Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) is the favourite to claim the maillot rojo, but she has not been as dominant so far in 2025 compared to previous years. After taking a stage and the GC at the Volta de la Comunitat Valenciana in February and then an impressive win at Strade Bianche in early March, Vollering hasn’t managed to win since. For almost every other rider, it would be perfectly normal to go almost two months without a win, but Vollering isn’t a normal rider, as proven by her multiple victories over the last few seasons.
Demi Vollering in the red jersey at the 2024 Vuelta Femenina (Image: ASO)
Her spring campaign was by no means a disaster, but as we move into the summer and more stage racing, she will want to get back to her usual winning ways. To do so, she will have the backing of a strong team, including her reliable lieutenant Juliette Labous and Vuelta stage winner from last year, Évita Muzic, who beat her current team leader when Vollering was riding for her former team SD-Worx.
Évita Muzic beating Demi Vollering on stage six of the Vuelta Femenina 2024 (Image: ASO)
Kasia Niewiadoma
Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto) memorably beat Vollering at last year’s Tour de France Femmes to claim the biggest win of her career, but like Vollering she has had somewhat of a frustrating Classics campaign. Despite some solid results like fourth at the Tour of Flanders, she wasn’t able to get that all-important win for her team. However, Niewiadoma was up there in a number of races, and as the season moves to a different style of racing, this consistency will be rewarded more in the upcoming stage races than in the one-day Classics.
This consistency and dogged determination are what brought her glory on the roads of France last July, but can she repeat the feat south of the Pyrenees at La Vuelta?
Since the race expanded its format in 2021, Niewiadoma has been solid without being remarkable at the Spanish race, finishing sixth in 2021, 10th in 2022 and 2023 before dropping out last year. However, if she can muster the same level that took her to le malliot jaune last summer, she will have a chance to compete for its red counterpart at the Vuelta.
Kasia Niewiadoma after winning the Tour de France Femmes 2024 (Image: Eloise Mavian / Tornanti.cc)
Read more: Rating all the women's WorldTour teams at the Spring Classics
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot
It’s not every year that you can say that a former road world champion claiming podium spots at Strade Bianche and the Tour of Flanders and then winning Paris-Roubaix was somewhat surprising, but after a number of years focusing on mountain biking, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s return to the road has been nothing short of remarkable.
On Sunday, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider starts her first Grand Tour since the Giro d’Italia Donne in 2015 (where she finished sixth) and will be a contender to win the GC. Alongside that sixth-place finish, the year before she also came second behind her Rabobank-Liv Woman Cycling Team teammate Marianne Vos. The careers of these two superstars have gone full circle, and they both line up again on the same team on Sunday in Barcelona, where they will hope their experience can help Ferrand-Prévot claim the red jersey.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot after winning Paris-Roubaix 2025 (Image: Thomas Maheux / ASO)
Marlen Reusser
The home Spanish team, Movistar, start with one of the strongest squads in the race with former second-place finisher Marlen Reusser (2021) among their ranks. She was second to Vollering in Valencia in February and will be joined by consistent performer Liane Lippert.
Despite the team’s impressive strength in depth, they will have to be at their very best to challenge the likes of Vollering and Niewiadoma on the two summit finishes. However, with plenty of opportunities for team tactics to have a big effect on the racing, the squad could work well together to try and expose and isolate the other contenders. They will also be hoping that they can put together a strong team time trial on stage one to set the tone for their home race. Lippert, who was fifth in Valencia, has been climbing well this season, resulting in third at the Tour of Flanders and fifth at La Flèche Wallonne. If she can translate these short efforts on the Flandrian and Ardennes climbs into the longer efforts up the Spanish mountains, she has a real chance of a high GC finish.
Liane Lippert at Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2025 (Image: Thomas Maheux / ASO)
Other contenders
The home favourite for the Spanish Grand Tour is Mavi García (Liv Alula Jayco), who, like Niewiadoma, is a constant presence on tough mountain days. Likewise, Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) is a threat as proven by her stage win and sixth-place finish at the Tour de France Femmes last year. As previously mentioned, FDJ-Suez’s Juliette Labous and Évita Muzic, could achieve top GC results even while supporting Vollering.
There are a number of riders who could also fight for stage wins like Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal Team), a Tour stage winner who may also feature on the GC, the omnipresent Marianne Vos (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Olympic road race champion Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly), young British star Cat Ferguson (Movistar), and Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck), who has come close to a stage win in the past.
Prediction
We believe Demi Vollering will be too strong for her rivals on the race’s two summit finishes and will defend her Vuelta title.
