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News & Racing<\/a><\/p>\n There are many upsides to moving the women’s Giro to May-June, but the Vuelta Femenina might well suffer as a result.<\/p>\n Defending Vuelta champ Demi Vollering is a conspicious absence from this year’s race.<\/p>\n The 2026 Vuelta Espa\u00f1a Femenina kicks off this Sunday, putting the Spring Classics firmly in the rear-view mirror and heralding the start of so-called tours season. The women’s Vuelta has only grown in stature and significance in recent years, and it regularly attracts the best stage racers in the world.<\/p>\n Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez), queen of the recent Classics<\/a>, won the last two editions. One of the all-time greats, Annemiek van Vleuten, claimed the three editions before that.\u00a0<\/p>\n We can see the Vuelta\u2019s growing importance via ProCyclingStats\u2019 startlist quality metric<\/a>. Last year, the Vuelta had the fourth-best startlist of any race on the women\u2019s calendar. Only the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, Strade Bianche, and the Amstel Gold Race had a stronger startlist than the 2025 Vuelta. That put the Spanish \u2018Grand Tour\u2019 ahead of the Tour of Flanders (fifth), Road Worlds in Rwanda (ninth), and the Giro d\u2019Italia (11th), to name just a few top races.<\/p>\n In 2026, though, things look a little different for the Vuelta Femenina. And that\u2019s the result of a single, but very significant shuffle to the Women\u2019s WorldTour calendar.<\/p>\n Back in June 2025, Giro d\u2019Italia organisers RCS Sport announced that this year\u2019s women\u2019s Giro would be moving from its traditional July timeslot to late May\/early June, to follow the men\u2019s Giro. It was an exciting and long-awaited move. For one, the new timeslot means the women\u2019s Giro won\u2019t be competing for attention with the men\u2019s Tour de France as it has done for so long. Moving the Giro forward in the calendar also makes it more feasible for riders to attempt a GC campaign at both the Giro and Tour \u2013 something that the best riders have largely avoided<\/a> since the Tour de France Femmes began in 2022.<\/p>\n More broadly, the Giro\u2019s move is another sign of RCS\u2019s continued efforts to help bolster women\u2019s racing.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unlikely to be a coincidence that RCS moved the women\u2019s Giro to immediately after the men\u2019s Giro, after the success its rival ASO has had running the Tour de France Femmes right after the men\u2019s Tour. But RCS is taking other meaningful steps too. The resurrection of the women\u2019s Milan-San Remo<\/a> is a significant data point, so too are the credible rumours that a women\u2019s Il Lombardia will soon be added to the calendar<\/a> (it\u2019s the only men\u2019s Monument still lacking a corresponding women\u2019s race).\u00a0<\/p>\n But all those benefits, all of that progress \u2013 it might well come at the expense of the Vuelta Femenina.<\/p>\n This post is for paying subscribers only Already have an account? Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n Did we do a good job with this story?<\/p>\n \n \ud83d\udc4dYep![\"Matt](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Matt-de-Neef-150x150.jpg\")
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