SHINING AGAIN. The blows Sheyla Gutiérrez was hurt with over the last few years would discourage anyone to keep trying – yet if there’s something which the Spaniard doesn’t do, is surrender, because of her enourmous grit and determination. A blood pressure complication, in the autumn of 2020; a really hard crash in Morbihan -lost consciousness; received lots of stitches, and even suffered some fever and illness due to that-, a year later; and new health issues in the winter of 2023, all prevented the woman from Varea, Logroño in La Rioja to get back to her best form at many points of her Blue career. That didn’t prevent her from again being a crucial domestique for Van Vleuten at the Giro and Le Tour, as well as coming well close to a victory several times during the spring: she was 3rd, after a long break caught just over the finishing straight, on stage three of the Vuelta a Burgos; came 2nd at the GP Ciudad de Eibar; and was 4th at both road race and time trial Spanish Nationals.

QUEEN OF THE SPANISH PALMARÈS. The Varea native has brought Spanish women’s cycling some of its most exciting results during the eleven seasons she’s spent as pro, including three with Lointek (2013-2015) and then another three with Cylance Pro Cycling (2016-2018). Prior to her Movistar Team wins, at the Tour de l’Ardèche -two stages, in 2022-, La Périgord (2020) and the 2019 Spanish TT Champs, she also notched up a stage in the Giro Rosa (2017), the Belgian Le Samyn classic (2017), two international stageraces in China -the Tour of Zhoushan Island and the Panorama Guizhou Road Race, both in 2018- and the 2017 Spanish road race Championships in Soria, as well as the GP Morbihan in 2015 while still part of Lointek.

HER MIND ALWAYS ON SUPPORTING OTHERS. Known as ‘La Leona’ or ‘Hippie Lion’ (an English-language reminiscence of her three-year stay in Cylance, Sheyla has a very distinctive facet away from cycling. She’s studying Psychology and Childhood Education, a choice made because of her love for children – she often defines herself as “just another little girl.” She doesn’t even rule out devoting her future career to Special Education and helping kids with different needs, once competitive cycling is over for her. Plus, her commitment to charity causes saw her spending three weeks in November 2022 in Nepal, climbing towards the Everest Base Camp, to support the ‘himELAya’ initiative, which seeks to raise awareness and collect funds to support research against ALS.