AG Insurance – Soudal to La Vuelta España Femenina

AG Insurance – Soudal to La Vuelta España Femenina

The beautiful and charming city of Barcelona, home of the Sagrada Familia, Casa Batlo, Montjuic and the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, hosts the inaugural stage of La Vuelta España Femenina, an 8.1km-long team time trial that shouldn’t create any big gaps.

Over the next six days, there will be opportunities for the sprinters, the puncheurs, and the breakaway artists, but the general classification battle should have in the spotlight the climbers. The steep Lagunas de Neila, coming at the end of stage five, and the long Alto de Cotobello – another ascent featuring some demanding double-digit ramps, scheduled on the final day of the competition – are the two main challenges of this year’s Vuelta, which takes place between 4-10 May.

AG Insurance – Soudal was one of the most consistent teams in the Spring Classics, and will come to the start of the Spanish race with a huge morale after Kim Le Court’s historic victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and with the desire to do another good race. Double ITT Spanish Champion Mireia Benito, Julia Borgström, Justine Ghekiere, Marthe Goossens, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, Julie Van De Velde, and Urska Zigart are our team’s seven riders for the week-long stage race.

“We start with a strong team in this first Grand Tour of the year. In the sprint stages we can try something with Marthe and Julia, but also on the days where there are some climbs on the parcours we can be visible, depending on the scenario. Regarding the big mountain stages, Ashleigh and Urska are our two riders who will try to be up there. Overall, it’s a balanced team and we would like to get some nice results, but we know it’s going to be a hard week, so the plan is to take it day by day. We go there after a solid Classics campaign and we look forward with a lot of motivation and ambition to this important stage race”, said sports director Stijn Steels.