Racing

Racing La Vuelta Femenina

The Vuelta signals a shift from one-day races to stage racing in Spain

April 28, 2023

With the classics season over, it’s time for a change not only of scenery, but a change of the racing calendar.

For the first time, the Vuelta Femenina moves from its previous date of mid September to the beginning of May. It’s also increasing from five to seven stages this year, allowing the race to take on a more varied parcours.

We’re bringing six riders with a range of experience and expertise to the Vuelta. Hear from our squad and our sports director about our goals for the ninth edition of the race that kicks off on May 1st.

Tim Harris, sports director
We’re looking forward to the Vuelta. We’ve got a good team. We’re really looking forward to Femke Beuling, our new signing, who will be riding her first race with the team. She’ll be able to acquaint herself well with the team and hopefully be able to do some sprints on the flatter stages. For the overall, we’ve got Veronica who’s been riding well recently and we’re looking forward to how she’ll perform in the mountain stages. We start with a team time trial which is not one of our top strong points but we’ll certainly do our best. That’s then followed by a few rolling and flat stages so we’ll see what opportunities we can find there. The last three days are very mountainous, finishing up on the Lagos de Covadonga, but before we get there, there’s a lot of bike racing so we’ll see how things go.

Femke Beuling
The Vuelta is my first WorldTour race and that's obviously very special. I'm really excited to ride my first race with the team. It's difficult for me to say what I expect, but I just want to contribute to the team's performance in every possible way. For myself, I hope to be able to get a good result in one of the flatter stages, so I'm especially looking forward to those stages.

Georgia Williams
I’ve raced the Vuelta a few times before but this is the first year that it’s been seven days. In the past it’s been five days, and even just a one-day race, so it’s really cool that they’ve stepped up and we’ve got more of a grand tour race. I always like racing the Vuelta. The weather’s usually good after the spring classics and the roads are really nice. I’ve looked at the stages and they look really good. There are a couple of sprint stages, there’s a team time trial, there are some hilly stages and the mountain top stage. I think they’re all going to be really exciting racing. They suit us. The goal will be to get Veronica up there on GC. And a stage result for her or someone else would also be really cool. I’m just looking forward to getting into it and racing with the team. I hope to play a part in the team time trial. That’s one of my strengths. I’m hoping to share my knowledge and play a big part there.

Kathrin Hammes
It’s my first time racing the Vuelta and I am really excited. I will be doing the full Spanish race block, so the Vuelta will be the beginning of a longer block for me and I am really looking forward to racing in Spain! It’s nice that the Vuelta is a longer stage race with seven stages and the route includes a bit of everything which makes racing exciting and interesting for us as we can play different cards. It’s also cool that we are basically racing through the whole country from south to north. Of course that also means longer transfers for the team, but it’s also pretty cool to race across Spain in one stage race.

Magdeleine Vallieres
This is my first time racing the Vuelta. I really am looking forward to it. I’ve heard a lot about it and I really like racing in Spain, especially now that I've lived in Spain for a while. I really like the culture and the community. What I’m looking forward to the most is getting the stage racing started. I think it’s going to be a good one for the team. I’m a little bit nervous about the TTT but I think it will be a good learning experience. The team can do really well. I think we have a strong team. It’s always hard to tell with the first stage race of the year how everyone will go after the one day races but I will do the best I can do.

Sara Poidevin
I raced the Vuelta for the first time last year, which was actually just a few months ago. This race marks the transition from the one day spring classics to the stage racing part of the year, so the racing strategies and dynamics will shift. I’m looking forward to this race because we have a well rounded team and strong leaders for both the sprint and mountain stages. It will also be the first race with our new teammate, Femke, so I’m looking forward to racing with her.

Veronica Ewers
I have raced the Vuelta before. Last year was my first time and it was really fun. I’m excited to get back to Spanish roads because they tend to suit me a bit better. The course this year starts somewhat flat and then leads to the mountains so that should be pretty fun and should allow for a lot of different opportunities throughout the week. I’m most nervous for the mountain stages as I’m not quite sure where my form is at the moment with regard to climbing but I will do my best. At the same time, I’m also really excited for the last two mountain stages. I think the race will provide us with a lot of opportunities for stage wins which is really exciting. Instead of being on the defense, we can be a bit more on the offense and be a bit more active to go for stages rather than go for the GC. We’ll see how the TTT plays out and how the first few stages play out and then go from there. I’m really excited. We have Femke doing her first race with us. I’m really excited to have her on the squad. I’m excited to see what the team can do and hopefully find success on the Spanish roads.

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How to follow: Eurosport/GCN+ and FloBikes will carry live coverage of the Vuelta.

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La Vuelta Femenina
May. 01, 2023 – May. 07, 2023
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Femke Beuling signs with EF Education-TIBCO-SVB

Femke Beuling

A former junior world champion on the ice, Femke Beuling spent three years as a professional speed skater before turning her sights to the pro peloton. She had always ridden as part of her training for skating and quickly fell in love with cycling. The bike offered her a type of freedom beyond the ever-familiar ice rink. When a persistent foot injury signaled the end of her skating career, Femke focused her attention on cycling. Her time as a skater had helped her develop a powerful sprint which transfers perfectly to road racing.

Femke has always been intrigued by the human body and the 23-year-old recently completed her bachelor's degree in medicine. She plans to focus on her racing career for the next several years, then resume her studies and become a doctor later down the road.

To relax, Femke loves to head to the north of the Netherlands where she visits her parents on their agricultural farm.

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Georgia Williams

Georgia Williams is a rider who loves the hilly classics, stages races, and time trials. She got her initial start as a track cyclist and after representing New Zealand in the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2016 Olympics, she decided to fully dedicate her time to road racing.

She is a versatile rider with a pair of medals from back to back Commonwealth Games, four time trial national titles, two road race national championships, and top ten finishes on both stage and one-day races in nearly every season of her career.

She loves to race aggressively and support her teammates but what keeps her motivated is the simple joy that riding brings her, day in, day out. Georgia takes advantage of the travel opportunities that come along with racing and you’ll often find her exploring new routes and training in the fresh air with her friends. She spends the racing season in Girona, Spain and heads back to New Zealand for the austral summer.

Now entering her 11th season as a pro, Georgia is a seasoned veteran who is eager to share her knowledge and experience with her teammates. With her easy-going attitude, she is a natural mentor.

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Magdeleine Vallieres

Magdeleine Vallieres Mill hails from Sherbrooke, Québec. At nine-years-old, she and her dad took a 1,000 kilometer bike packing trip over nine days. After that, Magdeleine was hooked. A sports program at her high school introduced her to bike racing. She loved every discipline, racing road, cyclocross, and mountain bike as a junior before deciding to focus on road racing.

She applied for the UCI World Cycling Center (WCC) program as she transitioned out of the junior ranks and was offered one of eight spots on the WWC squad for 2020. The Continental team serves as a launching pad into the professional ranks for its scholarship riders, who typically hail from across the globe. Magdeleine’s first season with the WCC was interrupted by Covid but she took advantage of every opportunity and ultimately earned a spot on EF Education-TIBCO-SVB.

Magdeleine is approaching her second season with the team full of energy and excitement. In her rookie season, she didn’t know what to expect but her eagerness to seize every opportunity ultimately led to plenty of race days for the 21-year-old. She raced the classics, one-day races, and stage races, all while providing essential support to her teammates.

Her diverse cycling background has helped her develop a love for the chaotic classics, the endurance required in stage racing, and has taught her unrivaled track standing skills.

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Sara Poidevin

Sara Poidevin grew up immersed in athletics. The Canadian hails from Canmore, Alberta, a high caliber athlete mecca. Surrounded by cross country skiers and mountain bikers, Sara rode recreationally with her family for a few years before growing more interested in mountain bike racing during high school.

Sara started training on a road bike in the winter, in an effort to keep up her fitness for mountain biking, and quickly discovered that she was better on the road than in the dirt. She raced on the road with her provincial team and then a local club in Calgary, balancing cycling with scholastics as she pursued her exercise and health physiology degree.

A professional racer since 2016, last season was a year of firsts for Sara – first time changing teams, first year living abroad, first season on a WorldTour team. In 2022, she raced more days than in any other season which provided her with ample opportunities to learn and grow.

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Kathrin Hammes

Kathrin Hammes began her professional career with EF Education-TIBCO-SVB, racing for the American squad from 2015-2017. After four seasons with various teams, she calls her second go-round with the team a return to her roots.

She started riding at age 17 thanks to a family friend. Riding soon led to racing and racing led to a stage win at Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l’Ardèche while competing on a composite team. This win, which happened shortly after Kathrin submitted her master’s degree thesis in sociology, was the catalyst for signing with the team.

On the bike, Kathrin is a hard working domestique who never hesitates to support and protect her teammates. She loves a long climb and frequently rides up Schauinsland, a mountain in the Black Forest.

The German favors her home roads in and around Freiburg for training, climbing and racing. While many of her teammates prefer the warmer climates of Spain and the south of France as their in-season residence, Kathrin remains in Germany throughout the year. Her favorite races are the Ardennes Classics and tough stage races like the Giro d’Italia Donne which she has raced four times.

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Veronica Ewers

Veronica’s focus and dedication has made the 2022 season one full of podiums. In Luxembourg, she won the final stage of the Festival Elsy Jacobs which earned her second place on the general classification. She took the overall win at the Navarra Women’s Elite Classics as well as second place at both Emakumeen Nafarroako Women’s Elite Classic and Durango-Durante Emakumeen Saria. At the Tour de France Femmes, Veronica rode aggressively and with heart, finishing among the top ten on two stages which landed her in ninth place on general classification. Veronica had the honor of representing her country at the 2022 World Championships in Wollongong, Australia. She concluded the season with a pair of second place podiums in the Italian one-day races and a fifth place GC finish at the Tour de Romandie, her best finish yet in a WorldTour race.

Her list of race results is particularly impressive given that 2022 was her first season as a full-time professional cyclist.

Veronica burst onto the professional racing scene at the 2021 US National Road Championships, coming in third place behind Lauren Stephens and Coryn Labecki. The result, and the way she earned it, turned heads, ultimately landing Veronica a guest ride with EF Education-TIBCO-SVB at Joe Martin Stage Race. Veronica backed up her nationals bronze with second place at Joe Martin, her first national level race.

Because the 28-year-old had limited experience in the peloton before she turned pro, Veronica is proud of the growth she displayed in 2022 as she learned to navigate the bunch. This improved skill led to greater confidence, which in turn has helped her become a more proficient racer.

Though she is new to cycling, Veronica is not new to competitive sports. She played Division III soccer at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon while double majoring in Spanish and anthropology. Following graduation, she turned to running, and a running friend encouraged her to attend a local club ride meet-up. This led to Veronica joining Fount Cycling Guild where she worked closely with Jennifer Wheeler, who rode for TIBCO in 2011-2012. Wheeler recognized Veronica’s budding talent immediately and connected the up and coming rider with Linda Jackson, founder of EF Education-TIBCO-SVB.

For now, Veronica sees herself as all-rounder. She is punchy and loves the hills, including the longer mountain climbs. She spent a month of the off season in Medellín, Colombia where she explored the local climbs and got to practice her Spanish.

Veronica is as surprised as anyone at the way her cycling journey has unfolded to date, but is excited to continue to develop and see just how far she can go in the sport.

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