Home team Movistar had hoped to line up at next week’s Vuelta Femenina with last year’s runner-up and a potential winner in their roster, but have instead had to rejig their plans and likely ambitions.
Second last year, Marlen Reusser made the Vuelta the goal of her season for 2026, and returned from injury at the Spring Classics to begin her build-up. However, her return to racing did not last long, as after winning Dwars door Vlaanderen, she crashed out of her next race at the Tour of Flanders.
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Lippert will be joined by Mareille Meijer, Arlenis Sierra, Tota Magalhães, Sara Martín, Lucía Ruiz and Aude Biannic in what the team describe as “a well-balanced squad combining experience and youth, with options to shine across different race scenarios”.
What can Movistar achieve in Spain?
Riding as the home team, and circling this race as a key goal even before the season began, Movistar will still want to try and make a success of the Vuelta, and confirmed that Lippert, Sierra and Meijer in particular will be targeting stage victories in Spain.
Lippert is a strong, punchy climber, but not known for her GC ability, and it is clear that challenging for the podium, like Reusser would have done, will be beyond her limits. The German rider has finished in the top 10 of climbing stage races before, albeit never a Grand Tour, so a similar finish is certainly possible, but likely only as a byproduct of stage hunting.
For Lippert, the Tour of Flanders and the Ardennes were the most important races of her spring, but her results were lacking: top 30 in every race, but 14th at Flèche Wallonne her highest finish, so she doesn’t quite look to be in sparkling form just yet.
However, the back-to-back racing in Spain should give her time to…
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