The third version of the Tour de France Femmes lived as much as the hype, with the spoils of eight levels divided amongst six particular person winners, together with two levels compressed into someday. From the quick, low-lying plains of the Netherlands to the punchy climbs of the Ardennes Classics in Belgium and at last to the mountainous peaks of the Alps, the 946.3 kilometres of racing got here all the way down to treasured seconds to find out the maillot jaune.
Two of one of the best from final 12 months’s race fought for podium spots once more, this time on the epicentre of European climbing on the Alpe d’Huez, defending champion Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) took her second stage victory of the week on the fabled ascent, however would in the end fall quick by 4 seconds to new champion Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), who improved from final 12 months’s third general end.
Most important was that the GC was determined by the smallest margin of victory in Tour de France historical past, since Greg Lemond defeated Laurent Fignon by eight seconds within the 1989 males’s race.
It wasn’t nearly two riders battling on Sunday throughout the 21 switchbacks both. There have been plot twists every day in breakaways, classification leads and moments to outline careers, in addition to give house crowds a number of causes to prove in massive numbers and title new heroes. It had been since 1991 that two levels have been packed into someday at a Tour de France, this 12 months’s race contesting a street race and an ITT on the second day.
Cyclingnews had a powerful contingency overlaying the Tour de France Femmes from begin to end, Ladies’s Editor Kirsten Frattini, Information Author James Moultrie and contributor Lukas Knöfler. Listed here are our decisions of essentially the most memorable moments and conclusions of the race.
Charlotte Kool’s wins have been no fluke
Earlier than the 2024 Tour de France Femmes, Lorena Wiebes was not solely the favorite for the opening two levels within the Netherlands but in addition the undisputed finest sprinter on the planet. However issues didn’t go to plan on the opening stage to The Hague, when late contact with Anniina Ahtosalo earlier than the dash noticed Wiebes’ rear derailleur come off, leaving her unable to contest the dash.
Rising from the bunch to take the win and with it the primary yellow jersey, was Charlotte Kool (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), the sprinter who was once Wiebes’ ultimate lead-out rider and the one rider who had actually matched her compatriot for top-end pace prior to now season and a half.
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This might have appeared like a fluke on the time, however Kool defined how a respiratory drawback had been holding her again all through the 2024 season, main Wiebes to enter the Tour with 18 wins whereas Kool had netted only one this season, and on the second dash, she confirmed it was her power, not Wiebes’ unhealthy luck that led her to victory.
Wiebes tried to bounce again in Rotterdam after a powerful lead-out by Barbara Guarischi, however Kool wasn’t too far again simply on the wheel of Marianne Vos. When Wiebes hit the entrance, there wasn’t the standard separation she has at lift-off, however a yellow jersey as a substitute getting as much as her and round her earlier than the road. The doubling up on wins confirmed that Kool was each bit Wiebes’ equal in a flat end, if not stronger.
It’s a dash battle that we must always see proceed into the subsequent few seasons from the previous teammates, nonetheless, for now, Kool will maintain that crown and be assured for every of her subsequent conferences with Wiebes. Ladies’s sprinting has two stars.
Status of the Tour breeds sudden winners
One of the intriguing issues the Tour de France Femmes has led to since its inception in 2022, is a variety of stunning winners. That continued after which some on the 2024 version of the race, proper by way of from Kool’s duo of triumphs forward of Wiebes to Justine Ghekiere’s (AG Insurance coverage-Soudal) beautiful solo win from the break to Le Grand-Bornand.
The Dutch Grand Départ truly had three shock wins, with Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) additionally producing a surprising particular person time trial on the 6.3km stage 3 course to maneuver into the yellow jersey. The Course was anticipated to be one for the sprinters or for the pure TT specialists, however not a GC favorite because of the primarily flat profile.
However neither Chloé Dygert (Canyon-SRAM) nor Kristen Faulkner (EF-Oatly-Cannondale) was capable of put in higher performances than Vollering, who made up all her time within the ultimate 3km of the course, because the lactic acid constructed up within the legs for the specialists over the Erasmusbrug bridge. She would win by 5 seconds forward of the ITT World Champion Dygert in an enormous shock.
This theme didn’t finish there, with Vollering herself then being shocked by Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), who loved a terrific debut at her first-ever stage race, topped off by her victory into Liège on stage 4 forward of the defending champion – in a photograph end no much less.
Because the race lastly hit France for stage 5, three consecutive shock winners arrived on the line: Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime), Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT) and Ghekiere. Vas triumphed in a dash on the drama-filled day to Amnéville, the place teammate Vollering crashed and misplaced yellow, whereas Kerbaol produced a surprising descent and TT effort into Morteau to carry off the chasers, and Ghekiere went solo after stepping into the times early break on the primary actual mountain stage.
There’s one thing particular in regards to the Tour and the additional motivation it can provide riders, being a typical theme all through the 121 years the lads’s race has existed and now making its means constantly into the ladies’s race. The added energy that chasing the glory of a Tour de France Femmes stage win can extract is to not be underestimated.
Two levels in someday is a logistical nightmare
The Tour de France Femmes had good motive to host the double stage on day two, with the Dordrecht to Rotterdam dash stage and the Rotterdam time trial permitting them to maintain the race at eight levels because it had been for the earlier two editions, all whereas becoming in with the Paris Olympics-altered calendar.
Nevertheless, for riders, groups, mechanics, organisers and press, it might solely be described as a large headache. The groups needed to be up early to make the Dordrecht begin, with little time to comfortably make the journey to the end after 66k of extremely quick racing.
The issues began simply there, as, after the dash, the mechanics then needed to work double time to make sure two units of bikes – street and TT – have been cleaned and arrange correctly for the race in opposition to the clock and the day after.
FDJ-Suez even needed to e-book one other lodge for after the dash, so their riders might get out of the 30-degree warmth within the metropolis, bathe and put together optimally for the time trial. It additionally meant that stress ranges have been larger and everybody needed to do double the work for a traditional stage.
Even for the press, there was confusion about whether or not vehicles would have to be moved to a distinct automotive park after the primary stage, and the late end of the time trial meant there was little time between the top of Vollering’s winner’s press convention and the press centre closing. Protection was maybe carried out half in addition to it might have been had there been the conventional one stage.
Whereas it’s comprehensible why the organisers needed to do it so the race didn’t shrink in dimension and in order that spectators in Rotterdam had a double day of motion on the identical end line, it maybe exhibits why double levels haven’t been at any Tour, males’s or girls’s since 1991.
SD Worx-Protime’s techniques proceed as largest weak point
For one of the best group in girls’s biking, SD Worx-Protime’s largest weak point continues to be themselves. With most of the finest riders on the planet and the highest GC star in girls’s biking – Demi Vollering, they need to have been capable of retain their crown from 13 months in the past, however a tactical error on stage 5 has price them the race.
Vollering’s crash on the strategy to Amnéville will certainly be checked out in years to return because the defining second of this 12 months’s race, with the following response, or lack thereof, from SD Worx-Protime being the largest mistake of the race.
When the yellow jersey hits the deck with 6km to go, she ought to be surrounded by teammates ready to assist her try to preserve the jersey. However Vollering was as a substitute alone, in ache and shedding the Tour de France Femmes. Solely Mischa Bredewold would drop again to assist her after she lastly remounted 49 seconds after happening on the exit to a roundabout, with teammate Blanka Vas profitable the stage and Lorena Wiebes crossing the road eighth – neither dropped again to assist their lead.
Sports activities managed Danny Stam stated that group radios weren’t working and that there wasn’t a lot additional assist would have carried out within the ultimate strategy to the road. However with a four-second margin now separating them from yellow, would SD Worx-Protime maybe rethink their strategy?
Even with Bredewold dropping again. She’d already been on the entrance attempting to guide out Wiebes so she wasn’t recent to avoid wasting her teammate 4 seconds or extra from the eventual 1:47 she misplaced to general winner Niewiadoma. It was nothing wanting a tactical catastrophe and maybe vindicated a part of why Vollering is rumoured to depart the group – they aren’t all in for her.
At that time, she was main the race within the yellow jersey after a surprising stage 3 time trial, with the toughest mountain levels, that suited her higher than anybody, nonetheless to return on levels 7 and eight. SD Worx-Protime merely weren’t tactically astute sufficient and it’s come again to bike them within the type of gruelling defeat.
Ladies’s riders are true icons
Having been launched to males’s racing in 1952, Alpe d’Huez is lastly set to see considered one of its fabled 21 bends marked with the title of a girls’s rider, the winner of the ultimate queen stage, Demi Vollering. The likes of Bernard Hinault, Gianni Bugno and Geraint Thomas have lengthy been current on the bends, however now Vollering’s title might be etched and championed in the identical means on the blue and white indicators.
After hardly ever being seen in girls’s racing having been part of the 1992 and 1993 Tour Cycliste Féminin, the place Dutch competitor Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel took victory twice, Vollering emulated her countrywoman and took victory, albeit a bittersweet one as she misplaced the general.
However nonetheless, her victory up the climb and the grittiest of defences that adopted it by yellow jersey Kasia Niewiadoma, will go down in historical past as considered one of biking’s closest however most unbelievable finishes, organising Alpe d’Huez to function as a historic climb for girls because it has for males in racing.
Ladies’s stars being honoured on a nook was additionally a little bit of a theme on this race, with the ‘Virage’ Juliette Labous coming to life on stage 6 to Morteau, as she raced in entrance of tons of of followers lining the roads simply to see and cheer her on.
Allez Juliette indicators have been everybody on the course because the race headed in the direction of the end, with Labous honouring the crowds with an assault that in the end didn’t come off however confirmed simply how heroic these riders are to the followers.
The assorted virages which were seen not too long ago are all from males’s racing – Thaibaut Pinot, Romain Bardet and Julien Bernard, with Labous now becoming a member of them in a particular record of honoured riders.
Kerbaol’s win opens the door to extra French success
The primary two editions of the Tour de France noticed the Dutch dominate many of the levels, be that the sprints or the excessive mountains, with little success coming from the French outdoors of Cédrine Kerbaol’s success in one of the best younger rider’s classification final 12 months.
So it was very becoming that after a Dutch-dominated Grand Départ within the Netherlands, France lastly discovered its first house stage winner for the reason that girls’s Tour was revived in 2022 by way of Kerbaol once more.
It was an opportunistic transfer by the 23-year-old into Morteau, together with her launch coming off the again of the GC favourites Vollering and Niewiadoma marking one another out on the ultimate climb up Côte des Fins. She adopted it up with a daring descent on roads she knew effectively, railing every nook on absolutely the restrict earlier than time trialling her approach to the road.
It felt big for the French, with this now opening the door for extra French stage wins to comply with. Kerbaol embraced race director Marion Rousse on the end, together with her compatriot captioning a publish to Instagram ‘perpetually the primary’.
With numerous French expertise on present on the race by way of Kerbaol, Labous and Muzic, who’re all nonetheless younger, the even youthful era of future stars like Marion Bunel and Celia Gery might be hoping to emulate what Kerbaol did on the 2024 Tour de France Femmes.
The race is prepared for 9 days and extra
A four-second margin separated Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma on the end of considered one of biking’s greatest-ever finales, coming proper all the way down to the wire after a brutal week of racing. Whereas it was thrilling to witness the closest profitable margin the Tour de France has ever seen, males’s or girls’s, that’s partly all the way down to the race being solely eight levels nonetheless.
With such a brief ‘Grand Tour’ format, this places larger strain on every mistake made, particularly for the GC riders. This was felt worst by Vollering after all, who after a crash on stage 5, noticed her lead general utterly evaporated within the Amnéville warmth.
Whereas that is a part of racing, and it makes the jeopardy larger within the girls’s race, solely having eight levels and 7 days to win the Tour means there may be little time to return again from a minor setback, attributable to your self or another person unintentionally.
Alongside this, the race has now skilled three nice years of racing in numerous areas and it feels proper to begin increasing – albeit in small increments – so the proposed one additional stage for subsequent 12 months sounds about proper. The 2025 race is because of begin in Brittany and is scheduled to run for 9 days based mostly on the present info launched by ASO, which suggests extra of the good motion.
Ladies’s races have additionally been for much longer prior to now, such because the previous girls’s Excursions de France from the 80s and 80s and the ladies’s Giro d’Italia, which had 10 levels for a very long time It’s not as if eight levels is a barrier the riders can not deal with, however a UCI restrict. The levels are getting longer – 150km and over, essentially the most well-known climbs at the moment are getting used, so why not develop the race?
Niewiadoma and Canyon-SRAM rode the right race
Quite a lot of the main target for the reason that finish of the race has been on the errors made by SD Worx-Protime and Demi Vollering, nonetheless, it’s vital to notice simply how sensible Canyon-SRAM have been of their pursuit of yellow.
Their language proper from the pre-race media day was assured, spurred on by exhibiting sensible race techniques all through the season comparable to on the Tour de Suisse the place Kasia Niewiadoma and Neve Bradbury lit up the racing to try to beat Vollering to the highest spot. On that event, they weren’t capable of do it however they’d their eyes on the larger prize.
However shedding Elisa Chabbey early on and Bradbury as a GC card to play attributable to crashes meant it needed to be the Polish star who took the reigns and led the German group.
Niewiadoma, twice a third-place finisher on the Tour de France Femmes, had her full concentrate on Vollering and even recognized that there have been weaknesses within the Dutch squad’s roster with out Lotte Kopecky and Marlen Reusser. And it was the crash and subsequent poor techniques that arrived on stage 5 which maybe proved Niewiadoma’s level – they have been susceptible.
Canyon-SRAM then responded completely, placing time trial World Champion Chloé Dygert to work and letting the brutally highly effective American do some severe harm on the entrance which maximised Niewiadoma’s time achieve.
This journey put Niewiadoma into the lead with a 1:19 lead over Vollering, and regardless of many riders being in between them on GC, she knew that solely the Dutch rider might absolutely problem her now. Niewiadoma shortly modified tack from her typical attacking type and settled brilliantly into the position of defender, preserving Vollering shut on levels 6 and seven to solely lose 4 seconds heading into the ultimate stage.
4 seconds that she known as insignificant post-stage 7, however near 24 hours later, she was calling a distinct 4 seconds “magical” after that was all of her lead that remained following the queen stage to Alpe d’Huez. Niewiadoma produced the grittiest journey of her life, albeit with some assist from Lidl-Trek and FDJ-Suez, defending a 1:01 hole for the ultimate 54km of stage 8 up Col du Glandon and Alpe d’Huez to take victory.
As soon as the perennial bridesmaid {of professional} biking however now the champion of the largest race, Niewiadoma’s rise from serial second-place finisher and podium contender to winner is one which hasn’t come with out the required onerous work. It’s a win that can dwell on within the reminiscence of biking followers for an terrible very long time, because the closest margin of victory ever in a Tour de France.
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