Tour de France Femmes the real goal as Ferrand-Prévot arrives in Spain with a point to prove

The spring is over, and attention turns to stage racing. While the men head for the Giro d'Italia, the women travel to Spain. La Vuelta Femenina is back on the calendar. Demi Vollering is absent as defending champion, but Pauline Ferrand-Prévot is on the start line. What can we expect from her so soon after the Classics? And from her teammate Marianne Vos?

Ferrand-Prévot had a strong spring, with second place at the Tour of Flanders and a third place at Paris-Roubaix. A victory wasn't on the cards this time, but the big goal comes later in the year at the Tour de France Femmes. There is still work to do before she arrives there in peak form. That makes her goal in Spain clear. "I want to improve myself when it comes to riding stage races," the Frenchwoman explains via her team's website.

Whether she already has the climbing legs to go head to head with rivals such as Kasia Niewiadoma and Anna van der Breggen remains to be seen. "Of course we aim for the best possible result and want to win a stage. As a team we'll need to work well together to make that happen. I hope to play my part in that."

Winning stages is the ambition of the Dutch team, but the Vuelta is also a stepping stone towards August. "Personally, I'm also here to make progress as a stage racer. Everything I do here is aimed at improving ahead of our most important goal of the season: the Tour de France Femmes. There I want to show my very best level, just like last season," Ferrand-Prévot concludes.

Sports director Jos van Emden also knows this will be quite a shift for his team leader. "After a good spring, this is again her first preparation for racing the overall classification. There's still some work to do, but we know that. It will be important for her to get a full week of racing in her legs again in Spain. I'm looking forward to a good week."

The former professional sees where the Vuelta is likely to be decided. "The Angliru will be the determining factor. The penultimate stage also finishes on a steep wall. The days before that are more similar in nature, and we'll go all out for a stage win there. That's our biggest goal this week. Naturally, Marianne will be the obvious person for that, but we have more options to show ourselves in the first stages."

Because Ferrand-Prévot is not starting with the highest ambitions, Visma | Lease a Bike can target stage wins. Marianne Vos is the obvious candidate for those. She has already won six stages in the Spanish race, a shared record with Vollering. "That Marianne has a few stages pencilled in for her should come as no surprise. A seventh win would be fantastic, of course."

But as Van Emden mentioned earlier, the Dutch team has more cards up its sleeve. Sarah van Dam, for one. The Canadian finished seventh at the Amstel Gold Race and could shine on the Spanish hills. "Sarah is a rider who makes us even stronger in depth than before and gives us an extra card to play. She has had a very consistent spring and I expect her to play an important role in a number of finales."

The squad is completed by Maud Oudeman, Imogen Wolff, Lieke Nooijen and Marion Bunel. Nooijen recently finished third at Dwars door Vlaanderen, while 21-year-old Bunel will be important support for Ferrand-Prévot in the mountains — she finished third at the Tour of Catalonia last year.