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2023 La Vuelta Femenina
2023 UCI Women's World Tour, race 15 of 27
Race details
Dates	1–7 May
Stages	7
Distance	741 km (460.4 mi)
Winning time	19h 00' 11"
Results
	Winner
	Second
	Third
	Points
	Mountains
	Combativity
	Team
	← 2022 2024 →

The 2023 La Vuelta Femenina (officially La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es) was the first edition of La Vuelta Femenina, a cycling stage race which takes place in Spain. The race took place from 1 to 7 May 2023, and was the 15th event in the 2023 UCI Women's World Tour.

The race was organised by Unipublic and Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), which also organises the men's Vuelta a España. La Vuelta Femenina replaced the stage race (previously one day race) Challenge by La Vuelta, which was staged at the same time as the men's tour.

The race was won by Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten of Movistar Team, making her the first woman to win all three of the major stage races in women's cycling (La Vuelta Femenina, Tour de France Femmes and Giro Donne). She beat her Dutch rival Demi Vollering of SD Worx by just nine seconds, with Italian Gaia Realini of Trek–Segafredo in third place.

Teams

12 UCI Women's WorldTeams were automatically invited, joined by 12 UCI Women's Continental Teams (9 of them from Spain). The teams were announced on 3 March 2023.^[2] Each team will have seven riders.^[3]

On 26 April, Zaaf Cycling Team withdrew their entry following allegations of unpaid wages.^[4] Two days later, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) revoked Zaaf's licence as they lacked the required number of riders.^[5] 23 teams therefore took part in the race.^[6]^[4]

UCI Women's WorldTeams

UCI Women's Continental Teams

Route and stages

In February 2023, the route was announced by race director Fernando Escartín,^[7] who also confirmed that the race will be sponsored by supermarket Carrefour.^[8] The race was the first edition of La Vuelta Femenina, however, the media noted that the race had grown from the previous Challenge by La Vuelta races.^[9]

The race started in Torrevieja on the Costa Blanca^[10] with a team time trial, before heading north with stages through Castilla–La Mancha, Community of Madrid and Castile and León. The final two stages took place in Cantabria and Asturias, with a decisive final climb up the Lagos de Covadonga, a 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) ascent with an average gradient of 7.4%.^[7]^[11]^[12] The first rider to the top of the Lagos de Covadonga climb was awarded the Cima Estela Domínguez,^[13] honouring the Spanish rider who was killed while training in 2023.^[14]

The previous Challenge by La Vuelta events had been criticised by the women's peloton for not being challenging enough.^[15] Three-time Giro Donne winner and 2022 Tour de France Femmes winner Annemiek van Vleuten praised the 2023 route, calling it "a very complete Vuelta",^[16] and welcomed that the inclusion of the Lagos de Covadonga climb on the final stage, stating "to end in such a famous location is essential for the race".^[17]

Stage characteristics^[18]^[12]
Stage	Date	Course	Distance		Winner
1	1 May	Torrevieja	14.5 km (9.0 mi)	Team time trial	Team Jumbo–Visma
2	2 May	Orihuela to Pilar de la Horadada	105.8 km (65.7 mi)	Flat stage	Charlotte Kool (NED)
3	3 May	Elche de la Sierra to La Roda	158 km (98 mi)	Flat stage	Marianne Vos (NED)
4	4 May	Cuenca to Guadalajara	133.1 km (82.7 mi)	Hilly stage	Marianne Vos (NED)
5	5 May	La Cabrera to Mirador de Peñas Llanas, Riaza	129.2 km (80.3 mi)	Mountain stage	Demi Vollering (NED)
6	6 May	Castro Urdiales to Laredo	106.7 km (66.3 mi)	Medium-mountain stage	Gaia Realini (ITA)
7	7 May	Pola de Siero to Lagos de Covadonga	93.7 km (58.2 mi)	Mountain stage	Demi Vollering (NED)
Total			741 km (460 mi)

Race overview

Prior to the start of the race, Annemiek van Vleuten, Demi Vollering, Gaia Realini, Mavi García, Kasia Niewiadoma and Juliette Labous were all named as pre-race favourites for the general classification (GC),^[19]^[20] with Charlotte Kool, Emma Norsgaard and Marianne Vos tipped for the points classification.^[20] Potential contender for the general classification Elisa Longo Borghini announced that she would miss the race due to a stomach bug.^[21]

For the first time in 2023, each team had 7 riders following a UCI rule change mandating this for events longer than six days.^[22] The Zaaf Cycling Team withdrew their entry prior to the start of the event following allegations of unpaid wages.^[4] Consequently, 161 riders from 23 teams were present at the start of the race.^[4]

Classification leadership table

Stage	Winner	General classification	Points classification	Mountains classification	Team classification	Combativity award
1	Team Jumbo–Visma	Anna Henderson	not awarded	not awarded	Team Jumbo–Visma	not awarded
2	Charlotte Kool	Marianne Vos	Charlotte Kool	Jade Wiel		Yurani Blanco
3	Marianne Vos		Marianne Vos	Jade Wiel		Alba Teruel
4	Marianne Vos			Elise Chabbey		Anna Kiesenhofer
5	Demi Vollering	Demi Vollering		Elise Chabbey	Canyon–SRAM	Ane Santesteban
6	Gaia Realini	Annemiek van Vleuten		Annemiek van Vleuten	UAE Team ADQ	Gaia Realini
7	Demi Vollering	Annemiek van Vleuten		Gaia Realini	UAE Team ADQ	Marianne Vos
Final		Annemiek van Vleuten	Marianne Vos	Gaia Realini	UAE Team ADQ	not awarded

Classification standings

Legend
	Denotes the winner of the general classification		Denotes the winner of the team classification
	Denotes the winner of the points classification		Denotes the winner of the combativity award
	Denotes the winner of the mountains classification

General classification

Final general classification (1–10)^[23]
Rank	Rider	Team	Time
1	Annemiek van Vleuten (NED)	Movistar Team	19h 00' 11"
2	Demi Vollering (NED)	SD Worx	+ 9"
3	Gaia Realini (ITA)	Trek–Segafredo	+ 2' 41"
4	Riejanne Markus (NED)	Team Jumbo–Visma	+ 3' 36"
5	Ricarda Bauernfeind (GER)	Canyon–SRAM	+ 3' 53"
6	Évita Muzic (FRA)	FDJ–Suez	+ 4' 24"
7	Juliette Labous (FRA)	Team DSM	+ 4' 27"
8	Erica Magnaldi (ITA)	UAE Team ADQ	+ 4' 46"
9	Mavi García (ESP)	Liv Racing TeqFind	+ 6' 31"
10	Katarzyna Niewiadoma (POL)	Canyon–SRAM	+ 7' 22"

Points classification

Final points classification (1–10)^[23]
Rank	Rider	Team	Points
1	Marianne Vos (NED)	Team Jumbo–Visma	197
2	Demi Vollering (NED)	SD Worx	142
3	Annemiek van Vleuten (NED)	Movistar Team	138
4	Gaia Realini (ITA)	Trek–Segafredo	121
5	Riejanne Markus (NED)	Team Jumbo–Visma	101
6	Marlen Reusser (SUI)	SD Worx	65
7	Évita Muzic (FRA)	FDJ–Suez	58
8	Emma Norsgaard (DEN)	Movistar Team	58
9	Katarzyna Niewiadoma (POL)	Canyon–SRAM	39
10	Juliette Labous (FRA)	Team DSM	38

Mountains classification

Final mountains classification (1–10)^[23]
Rank	Rider	Team	Points
1	Gaia Realini (ITA)	Trek–Segafredo	43
2	Demi Vollering (NED)	SD Worx	41
3	Annemiek van Vleuten (NED)	Movistar Team	38
4	Évita Muzic (FRA)	FDJ–Suez	22
5	Elise Chabbey (SUI)	Canyon–SRAM	18
6	Amanda Spratt (AUS)	Trek–Segafredo	13
7	Ricarda Bauernfeind (GER)	Canyon–SRAM	12
8	Erica Magnaldi (ITA)	UAE Team ADQ	12
9	Marta Cavalli (ITA)	FDJ–Suez	10
10	Marlen Reusser (SUI)	SD Worx	8

Team classification

Final team classification (1–10)^[23]
Rank	Team	Time
1	UAE Team ADQ	56h 39' 07"
2	FDJ–Suez	+ 6' 00"
3	Canyon–SRAM	+ 7' 14"
4	SD Worx	+ 18' 05"
5	Movistar Team	+ 24' 58"
6	Team Jumbo–Visma	+ 30' 10"
7	Team DSM	+ 31' 45"
8	Trek–Segafredo	+ 37' 01"
9	Team Jayco–AlUla	+ 52' 53"
10	Israel Premier Tech Roland	+ 57' 15"

References

^ "Official route of La Vuelta Femenina 2023". La Vuelta Femenina. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
^ "La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es: teams selection". La Vuelta Femenina. 3 March 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
^ Frattini, Kirsten (6 January 2023). "Women's WorldTour – The definitive guide for 2023". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Fotheringham, Alasdair (26 April 2023). "Zaaf pull out of La Vuelta Feminina, Unipublic confirms". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
^ Frattini, Kirsten (28 April 2023). "UCI revokes Zaaf Cycling Team's licence". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
^ LaVueltaFem (26 April 2023). "🚴🏻‍♀️ El equipo @ZaafTeam no participará en #LaVueltaFemenina. 23 equipos estarán en la línea de salida de Torrevieja. 🚴🏻‍♀️ Zaaf Cycling Team won't be at the start of #LaVueltaFemenina. 23 teams will be at the TTT in Torrevieja". Twitter. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
^ ^a ^b "News – The route of La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es". La Vuelta Femenina. 28 February 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
^ "A historical edition – La Vuelta Femenina 2023". La Vuelta Femenina. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
^ O'shea, Sadhbh (8 May 2023). "Vuelta Femenina: 6 lessons learned from revamped race". VeloNews.com. Retrieved 8 May 2023. Last week's race was billed as the first-ever Vuelta Femenina by the organizers. While, strictly speaking, it is the first race run under that name, it was a development of the Challenge by La Vuelta format run before it.
^ "La Vuelta Femenina confirmed to start in Torrevieja, full route to be revealed in late February". Eurosport UK. 23 February 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
^ Welch, Betsy (28 February 2023). "La Vuelta Femenina 2023 to finish on Lagos de Covadonga". VeloNews.com. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
^ ^a ^b "La Vuelta Femenina 2023 route". Cycling News. 2 March 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
^ "Cima Estela Domínguez: El Homenaje Eterno De La Vuelta Femenina A La Joven Ciclista Fallecida". Eurosport. 1 March 2023. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
^ Ostanek, Daniel (10 February 2023). "Spanish neo-pro Estela Domínguez killed after being hit by truck driver". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
^ Welch, Betsy (28 February 2023). "La Vuelta Femenina 2023 to finish on Lagos de Covadonga". VeloNews.com. Retrieved 5 March 2023. Despite the number of stages increasing over the past few years, many riders and teams have slammed the previous editions of the race for not being long or hard enough.
^ Welch, Betsy (28 February 2023). "La Vuelta Femenina 2023 to finish on Lagos de Covadonga". VeloNews.com. Retrieved 5 March 2023. It's a very complete Vuelta.
^ Welch, Betsy (28 February 2023). "La Vuelta Femenina 2023 to finish on Lagos de Covadonga". VeloNews.com. Retrieved 5 March 2023. After the announcement, Van Vleuten praised the inclusion of the brutal Lagos de Covadonga climb on the final, decisive stage. "To end in such a famous location is essential for the race"
^ "Official route of La Vuelta Femenina 2023". La Vuelta Femenina. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
^ Puddicombe, Stephen (27 April 2023). "La Vuelta Femenina 2023 – contenders and predictions". Rouleur. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
^ ^a ^b Mickey, Abby (29 April 2023). "La Vuelta Femenina: a far-too-detailed preview". Escape Collective. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
^ Weislo, Laura (28 April 2023). "Elisa Longo Borghini out of La Vuelta Femenina". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
^ Frattini, Kirsten (29 April 2023). "The biggest talking points ahead of La Vuelta Femenina – Preview". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 5 May 2023. La Vuelta Femenina is the first race on the Women's WorldTour calendar this year that is seven stages, and so the first time that teams will start with seven riders.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Knöfler, Lukas (7 May 2023). "La Vuelta Femenina: Van Vleuten narrowly secures GC while Vollering wins stage 7". CyclingNews. Retrieved 7 May 2023.