The 2015 La Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta was held on 13 September 2015, in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Spain. It coincided with the final day of the

2015 Vuelta a España The 2015 Vuelta a España was a three-week Grand Tour cycling race. The race was the 70th edition of the Vuelta a España and took place principally in Spain, although two stages took place partly or wholly in Andorra, and was the 22nd race in ...

, and was scheduled a few hours before the conclusion to the men's race. It was the first edition of La Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta. A multi-lap course, the women's road cycling race was rated as a 1.1 category race. It was won by

Shelley Olds Shelley Olds (born September 30, 1980) is an American former professional bicycle racing, racing cyclist. Career Olds was born and raised in Groton, Massachusetts. She studied health and human performance at Roanoke College in Virginia, and was ...

(), who beat

Giorgia Bronzini Giorgia Bronzini (born 3 August 1983) is an Italian former professional racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2003 and 2017. She won the women's road race in the UCI Road World Championships in both 2010 and 2011 and the women's poi ...

() and

Kirsten Wild Kirsten Carlijn Wild (born 15 October 1982) is a Dutch former professional racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2004 and 2021, for eight professional teams. During her track cycling career, Wild rode at the Summer Olympic Games in 2012 ...

().

Entry

Thirteen of the

UCI women's team A UCI Women's Team is a women's road bicycle team sanctioned by the International Cycling Union ( UCI). These teams compete in the major women's bicycle races including the UCI Women's Road World Cup and the team time trial for trade teams at the ...

entered the race, featuring between four and seven riders. They were joined by national teams from Portugal and Spain, bringing the total entry up to 88 riders. A number of the top teams and riders did not take part in the race, as they concentrated on preparing for the

2015 UCI Road World Championships The 2015 UCI Road World Championships took place in Richmond, Virginia, United States from September 19–27, 2015. It was the 88th Road World Championships. Peter Sagan won the men's road race and Lizzie Armitstead won the women's road race. ...

the following week.

National teams

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Course

The women's race was scheduled on the same day as the final stage of the men's

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the r ...

, and the course followed 15 laps of the same loop that the men would race on later. For the Madrid Challenge, the women started in the

Plaza de Cibeles The Plaza de Cibeles is a square with a neo-classical complex of marble sculptures with fountains that has become a symbol for the city of Madrid. It sits at the intersection of Calle de Alcalá (running from east to west), Paseo de Recoletos (t ...

, and headed north along

Paseo de Recoletos Paseo de Recoletos is a wide boulevard in central Madrid leading from Plaza de Cibeles to Plaza de Colón. From west to east it consists of: * Two southward lanes * The pedestrian walk * A southward bus lane * Three southward lanes * Three north ...

, before a tight

hairpin turn A hairpin turn (also hairpin bend or hairpin corner) is a bend in a road with a very acute inner angle, making it necessary for an oncoming vehicle to turn about 180° to continue on the road. It is named for its resemblance to a bent metal hai ...

to return to Plaza de Cibeles. The course then turned west onto Gran Vía, before another hairpin turn brought the race back to Plaza de Cibeles once more, where the course bent south down

Paseo del Prado The Paseo del Prado is one of the main boulevards in Madrid, Spain. It runs north–south between the Plaza de Cibeles and the Plaza del Emperador Carlos V (also known as Plaza de Atocha), with the Plaza de Cánovas del Castillo (the location ...

. A final hairpin took the course back to the Plaza de Cibeles to complete the lap. The course is relatively flat, favouring sprinters. On each lap, the first five riders to pass the start/finish line were awarded points in an

intermediate sprint This is a glossary of terms and jargon used in cycling, mountain biking, and cycle sport. For ''parts of a bicycle'', see List of bicycle parts. 0–9 ; 27.5 Mountain bike: A mountain bike with wheels that are approximately in diameter and a ...

Preview

In 2014, the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

added a women's race on the final day, known as

La Course by Le Tour de France La Course by Le Tour de France was an elite women's professional road bicycle race held in France. First held in 2014 as a one-day race on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, it has been part of the UCI Women's WorldTour since 2016 as a one or two ...

, and the organisers of the Vuelta a España opted to do similar in 2015. The plans were initially put on hold due to clashes with the Chrono Champenois-Trophée Européen,

Belgium Tour The Lotto Belgium Tour is an elite women's professional road bicycle stage race, held in Belgium since 2012. In the first year the tour consisted of three stages and grew with a team time trial A team time trial (TTT) is a road bicycle race ...

and

Giro della Toscana The Giro di Toscana is a road bicycle race held annually in Tuscany, Italy. From 2005 to 2014, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. The race was not held in 2015. On 4 April 2016 it was announced that the race will ...

, but despite this, it was given approval as a 1.1 category race.

Results

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References

External links

* {{in lang, es La Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta 2015 Vuelta a España