Challenge by La Vuelta set to increase to five or seven stages

Lisa Brennauer won the 2020 Challenge by La Vuelta
Lisa Brennauer won the 2020 Challenge by La Vuelta (Image credit: Getty Images)

Vuelta a España director Javier Guillén has confirmed that plans are in place for the women’s stage race, which runs parallel to the men’s event in its final week, to lengthen by anything between two and four stages.

First created as a one-day event on the Women’s WorldTour in 2015, when Shelley Olds took victory in a bunch sprint, the Challenge by La Vuelta race was lengthened to two stages in 2018 and  2019. It then increased to three stages for the first time in 2020.

Alasdair Fotheringham

Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The IndependentThe GuardianProCycling, The Express and Reuters.