La Vuelta Femenina stage 1 LIVE: Peloton close in on uphill sprint finish

Lotte Kopecky is perhaps her primary challenger. The SD Worx-ProTime rider has returned to something like her best form this spring, with a victory at Milano-Sanremo her best result so far.

EF Education-EasyPost’s powerful all-round Noemi Rüegg can never be counted out. The Swiss rider has made a strong start to the season once again and will be in the mix.

For UAE Team ADQ, the best hope for victory is probably Karlijn Swinkels. The Dutch woman is fast at the finish and also capable of launching a late move.

Liane Lippert (Movistar) is one of the best puncheuses in the peloton, but today may not be quite hard enough for her to avoid the pure speed of the likes of Vos and Kopecky. For Liv-AlUla-Jayco, Letizia Paternoster will hope to be in amongst it; the Italian wore the red jersey last year. For FDJ SUEZ, Paris-Roubaix winner Franzi Koch can’t be excluded from consideration; like Swinkels she might be the type of rider who can go from a long way out.

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The peloton are riding tempo, saving their energy ahead of what will be a high-octane approach to the finish.

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The tension briefly abates as teams take on fuel and the pressure at the front of the bunch calms.

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Mischa Bredewold (Team SD Worx-ProTime) pushes the pace at the front of the bunch on another uphill segment of the course – she is looking to make it tough for the faster women in the bunch, to try and thin out the group ahead for the finale for her teammate, Lotte Kopecky.

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The peloton is now beginning the second categorised climb of the day – it’s a tougher challenge, with an average gradient of 5.8% and one short section at over 10% – we can expect to see Squiban on the offensive again, to consolidate her early lead in the QOM competiton. But can anyone make a breakaway stick?

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Biriukova is caught. The top teams in the bunch are controlling the attacks at this point in the race. On a relatively short stage, and the first of the race, there is bound to be tension in the group.

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The complete peloton taking on stage 1 of La Vuelta Femenina.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Fans greet the riders before the start of today’s stage. (Image credit: Getty Images)

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There’s no time trial in this year’s race – the organisers opted to leave out the opening stage team time trial that has kicked off proceedings since the race began in its new extended format in 2022.

There is plenty of variation during the seven days, however, with arguably the toughest final mountain test in the race’s history, as the women will battle up the mighty Angliru.

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While there is plenty to do for the fast women at the conclusion of today’s stage, there’s also an opportunity for attacking riders to fight for the first polka dot Queen of the Mountains jersey, with two categorised climbs appearing on today’s route.

Both category 3, the climbs come in quick succession – the first, the Alto do Cruceiro, appears after 38 kilometres. It’s a 7.8 kilometre challenge at an average gradient of 4.6%. After that, the Alto da Portela features, around 50 kilometres into the day’s action. It’s a shorter test at 3.6 kilometres, but with a steeper average pitch of 5.8%, it could offer a launchpad to any riders looking to pick up QOM points, or even making a late breakaway attempt.

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In addition to the honour of wearing the first red leader’s jersey of the race, today’s first stage will also see the fight for the green points jersey kick off in earnest, with the favourites for the stage’s punchy uphill finish last year’s green jersey winner Marianne Vos (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) and winner of Milano-Sanremo in March, Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx-ProTime).

An intermediate sprint with just 12 kilometres remaining on the stage will bring all the contenders to the fore, ahead of what’s guaranteed to be an explosive finale in Salvaterra de Miño.

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Beginning in Marín, and heading south to Salvaterra de Miño, the race gets underway with the neutralised start at 11:20 CET.

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Today’s stage features two categorised climbs, along with an uphill finish which will decide who will be the first owner of the red leader’s jersey.

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Welcome to live coverage of stage 1 of La Vuelta Femenina. Grand Tour season begins with a punchy 113km in the north-west of Spain, in the region of Galicia.

Stay with us all day for updates from the race.