Having led her Lidl-Trek teammates across the TTT finish line, Gaia Realini is the first GC leader of the 2024 Vuelta Femenina. But it is far from certain that she can keep the red jersey on stage 2, 118.3km from Bunol to Moncofa.
Six, four, and two bonus seconds are available for the first three riders at the intermediate sprint in Alfara de la Baronia after 91 kilometres, and ten bonus seconds will be awarded to the stage winner in Moncofa, with six seconds for the runner-up and four seconds for third place. In total, a single rider could collect up to 16 seconds of time bonifications on stage 2.
This means that several riders have a chance to take the red jersey from Realini and Lidl-Trek. The most dangerous threat comes from Marianne Vos. Along with four of her Visma-Lease a Bike teammates, the 36-year-old superstar is only 0.09 seconds behind. Vos had three days in the red jersey in last year's edition, inheriting the lead from her teammate Anna Henderson on stage 2 and winning two stages in the leader's jersey.
Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime) is one second behind and could also threaten Realini. On paper, her chances are not quite as good as Vos', but Vas has a good turn of speed and a very strong team to support her in the quest for bonus seconds on the first stages.
Maike van der Duin (Canyon-SRAM) and Alison Jackson (EF Education-Cannondale) face a harder task as they are eight and nine seconds down, respectively, but unlike Emma Norsgaard (Movistar Team) who is 12 seconds behind, they could make up their entire deficit by winning the stage.
Even if nobody from another team leapfrogs Realini, the leader's jersey may still change hands within the Lidl-Trek team: Lizzie Deignan, Brodie Chapman, Elisa Longo Borghini, and Amanda Spratt are all on the same time as Realini, and whoever of these five finishes best on stage 2 would move to the top of the intra-team ranking and possibly take the overall lead.
16 GC contenders within 17 seconds
Realini and Longo Borghini also lead the ranking of GC favourites, having taken little but perhaps important time on their rivals. Riejanne Markus (Visma-Lease a Bike) is closest at 0.09 seconds, followed by SD Worx-Protime's Demi Vollering and Niamh Fisher-Black at one second.
Canyon-SRAM's Kasia Niewiadoma, Ricarda Bauernfeind, and Antonia Niedermaier sit at eight seconds while Kim Cadzow, Kristen Faulkner (both EF Education-Cannondale) and Évita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ) are nine seconds behind.
Mavi García (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) follows at ten seconds, with Marta Cavalli (FDJ-SUEZ), Liane Lippert, and Olivia Baril (both Movistar Team) another two seconds down. Juliette Labous (Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL) is 17 seconds behind.
There is then a bigger gap to Sarah Gigante and Justine Ghekiere (both AG Insurance-Soudal) at 32 seconds, followed by Tamara Dronova (Roland) at 42 seconds and Fenix-Deceuninck's Pauliena Rooijakkers and Yara Kastelijn at 48 seconds.
UAE Team ADQ's Mikayla Harvey and Erica Magnaldi are respectively 56 seconds and one minute behind, and Sabrina Stultiens (VolkerWessels) is another second behind Magnaldi. Human Powered Health's Henrietta Christie is 1:13 minutes down on Realini, Clara Koppenburg (EF Education-Cannondale) is another second behind and may forgo her own GC ambitions in favour of supporting the better-placed Cadzow and Faulkner.
