La Vuelta Femenina ambassador and Eurosport commentator Dori Ruano has said she wishes the race had been kept in its current calendar slot in May instead of moving to early October for the 2027 season, saying she fears some teams will lack riders and struggle to field a competitive line-up for the race.
The race is moving to October 3–10 in 2027 with the dramatic calendar change complicated by the August World Championships, Ruano told AS. However, this does not make her any happier with it.
"We have to put this in context: in 2027 the 'Super Worlds' take place in August, and that affects La Vuelta, both the men's race, which will take place entirely in September, and the women's," she said. "Even so, it is a date I do not like. The teams have very small squads in women's cycling. They start the year early, then the Classics, Giro, Tour, Worlds… La Vuelta is a long way off. My fear is that the teams will not have riders to make it a competitive Vuelta."
The UCI Management Committee confirmed the new dates at its meeting in Montréal on September 20–22. The Haute-Savoie Mont-Blanc World Championships run from August 24 to September 5, which pushes the men's Vuelta to September 4–26. The women's race now starts the week after the men's finishes. Vuelta a Burgos Feminas takes the vacated spring slot, May 6–10.
Photo: Alex BerasategiThe calendar move does bring it back closer to the men’s version of the race following its move to May in 2023, when it expanded to a week-long race. It started out as a one-day race that took place on the final day of the men’s Vuelta in September.
"I immerse myself in women's cycling from January 1 to December 31 and, from what I see, it is clear that teams do not have squads big enough for such an extensive calendar," she said. "There are more and more races, but the teams are the same in terms of numbers. I would have left La Vuelta in May. It is a good date from a sporting perspective, with the riders reaching their first peak of the season after the Classics, and we have seen in recent editions that the standard is extremely high."
The 2027 Women’s WorldTour is set to have 26 events over 69 race days, opening with the Tour Down Under on January 22–24. The other Grand Tours are in their usual slots of May 29–June 6 for the Giro d’Italia Women and July 30–August 7 for the Tour de France Femmes, with the Worlds following the Tour. After that it is the Tour de Romandie Féminin on September 10–12, and the Tour of Chongming Island starts two days after the Vuelta ends, on October 12–14.
The top riders already pick and choose. Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) left her Vuelta title defence out of her 2026 programme to cut her racing before the Tour. In her absence, Paula Blasi won a seven-stage race through Galicia and Asturias to become the first Spanish winner.
The 2027 Vuelta Femenina will also expand to eight stages, one fewer than both the Tour and the Giro. That brings it closer in length to the other Grand Tours, while adding another race day to the Women’s WorldTour calendar.
