La Madrid Challenge 2022 - Annemiek van Vleuten calls for 'harder parcours' as she aims to complete treble

Annemiek van Vleuten fears that the course for the 2022 La Madrid Challenge may not be sufficiently hard enough for her to complete a major stage-race treble. Van Vleuten has already secured overall crowns at the Giro d'Italia Donne and Tour de France Femmes this year, and is defending her crown at the five-stage Spanish event.

Ad The 2022 edition of the Ceratizit Challenge will coincide with the final five stages of the Vuelta a Espana before a planned calendar move to May next year, but does not contain a true summit finish or a day of significant mountain tests. Tour de France Femmes‘I hope no one replaces her’ — Why Van Vleuten's retirement might be good for cycling01/08/2022 AT 13:37 Ahead of an opening team time-trial in Marina de Cudeyo, Van Vleuten has suggested that the Spanish race cannot yet be considered a grand tour, urging organisers to make the course harder in the future.

“In general, I think this will be the one from the Giro, the Tour and the Vuelta that is the hardest to target, because the route is not that hard," Van Vleuten said. «Everyone knows I’m a fan of harder racing, and my chances would be rising with a harder parcours, with longer stages, climbs and mileage.

“When it comes to the race itself, though, I cannot say that the 'triple' is a goal in itself. That owes to the fact that, even if the Ceratizit Challenge carries the name of La Vuelta on it, it still hasn’t got the hard stages nor the length, the kilometers, you’d like to find in what you would consider a grand tour – it’s also just five days at the moment, with one of them being Madrid’s circuit race.» Roglic ruled out of Vuelta following nasty Stage 16 crash 'Close!' — Oliviera almost crashes into fans and parked car in scary