La Vuelta Femenina cycling competition gets underway in Barcelona

Spain's La Vuelta Femenina cycling competition got underway on Sunday morning through the central streets in Barcelona.

A total of 21 teams competed in an 8-kilometer time trial test through Passeig de Gràcia, Provença Street, Aribau Street, Diagonal Avenue, and Muntaner Street, reaching the finish line at Passeig de Gràcia boulevard with Mallorca Street.

Lidl-Trek won Stage 1 after a 9:30-minute mark.

The starting line was by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí's Casa Milà, commonly known as La Pedrera, one of the most unique examples of modernist Art Nouveau architecture on the luxury boulevard.

Meanwhile, the turning point was in front of Pedralbes Palace gardens on Diagonal Avenue.

Cyclists reached speeds of around 50 kilometers per hour.

The teams, formed by seven cyclists, started competing after midday, but hundreds of fans had already gathered just minutes before due to heavy rain to follow the trial. Before the professional teams began competing against the clock, the amateur EC Mataró Women's Team Škoda Mogadealer took their chance.

Among the professional athletes were Australian champion and Girona-based cyclist Brodie Chapman. Many awaited the race by local Mireia Benito, who competes for the AG Insurance—Soudal team, but her team announced early in the morning that due to illness, she would not line up.

"These days of cyclist competitions in Barcelona will mean a lot to me," Benito said in a statement some days before the competition started. "I am full of illusions about how many girls will be able to get close and experience a female cycling competition firsthand and how many will discover that being a professional athlete is possible," she added.

Brodie Chapman, who now resides in Girona as she was informed that it was a cycling mecca, said, "A lot of friends told me that Catalonia was the best place to live and train, with good weather and a lot of cycling culture."

The UAE Team ADQ said, "Coming from overseas, a lot of my social life is based on cycling, and immediately I was able to find a group of people that made me feel at home."

"I never had seen so many girls cycling in my life like they do here in Catalonia," she added.

Aside from Chapman, among the competitors there was also Catalan cyclist Ariana Gilabert, for the Eneicat-CM Team.

Barcelona was already the host city of a tricky stage 1 of the La Vuelta 2023 edition, the male version, and will be the starting point of the 2026 Tour de France, as it will be home to the Grand Départ.

Seven stages

La Vuelta Femenina started in Barcelona with a time trial on Stage 1 and will see six more stages, with the second also taking place in Catalonia.

Cyclists will leave Molins de Rei to reach Sant Boi de Llobregat in the shortest stage in the competition, as there will be only 99 kilometers between the starting and finishing lines. However, Sant Boi and Molins de Rei are just 7 kilometers apart in a straight line.

There are seven stages and 748 kilometers across four different Spanish regions: Aragon, Castilla y León, and Asturias, in addition to Catalonia.