Vuelta España Femenina - Stage 8

Published: 23 April 2024

Stage 8: Distrito telefónica Madrid – Valdesquí Comunidad de Madrid (89.4km, mountain)

Beginning at the headquarters of the Spanish telecom company Telefónica, the final stage of the 2024 Vuelta Femenina starts in the capital city of Madrid, before heading north to face a short but fearsome final day of racing. The short but intense day of racing will decide the overall winner in brutal fashion as the final summit finish of the race will serve as the Queen stage.

This is the day that will decide the successor to Annemiek van Vleuten, who won the first edition of the revamped race in 2023 - her third successive title including the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta lineage - in a similar summit finish up to Lagos de Covadonga.

Packing an intimidating 2,187m of elevation into less than 90km, the riders will have nowhere to hide as a short, flat start to the day is followed by constant up or down all the way to the finish line – though sadly for the riders’ legs, it is more up than down.

With two category one climbs on the menu, the peloton must first tackle around 15km of uncategorised climbing as they head into the Sierra de Guadarrama, north of Madrid. While this offers a chance for brave breakaway hopefuls to get away, the rest will likely aim to conserve their energy and recover with a short respite of around 7km of descent before the first of two major challenges.

First up is the Puerto de la Morcuera (9.1km, 6.8%). It’s a gruelling ascent that will shred the bunch, and they may not come back together again ahead of the final challenge of the race, the climb up to the Valdesquí ski resort. A longer ascent at 16.2km, the climb offers an easier average pitch of 4.4%, though it will feel far from easy after eight days in the saddle, particularly as the gradient worsens as the climb progresses.

With five of the last seven kilometres of the climb averaging 6%. It will be a stunning finale to what will be an action-packed and memorable week of racing if last year’s edition is anything to go by.

Words by Katy Madgwick

Major Races

See All

Date	Event	Class
29 Jun - 21 Jul	Tour de France	2.UWT
12 Aug - 18 Aug	Tour de France Femmes	2.WWT
4 May - 26 May	Giro d'Italia	2.UWT
28 Apr - 5 May	Vuelta España Femenina	2.WWT

Provided by FirstCycling