No women's race at Vuelta due to calendar clash?

A women’s race planned for the final day of the 2015 Vuelta a España – similar to that launched in Paris this July ahead of the final stage of the Tour de France – will not now take place due to clashes in the racing calendar, according to reports.

ASO, which owns both races, had aimed to stage a women’s one-day race to coincide with the conclusion of the Spanish Grand Tour in Madrid next September, but the idea is said to have been vetoed by world cycling’s governing body, the UCI.

No mention was made of the idea to replicate the success of La Course by Le Tour, won by Marianne Vos in July, when Vuelta race director Javier Guillén laid out some of the plans for next year’s race last week.

However, according to Canadian Cycling Magazine, while ASO wants the women’s race, which would have been held on the afternoon of 13 September in Madrid, to go ahead, the UCI will not authorise it due to the clashes with other races.

Those are Italy’s three-day Giro di Toscana, and two one-day events – the Grand Prix Montreal in Canada, and the French race, the Chrono Champenois in France.

The full route of the 2015 Vuelta will be announced on 10 January.