{"id":64145,"date":"2024-06-07T15:14:20","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T13:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=64145"},"modified":"2024-06-07T18:11:37","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T16:11:37","slug":"tour-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/2024\/06\/07\/tour-talk\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour talk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>
\n

Tour talk<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The crucial factors influencing the third edition <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Words <\/strong>Amy Jones <\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

01<\/span> Home from home<\/span><\/h4>\n\n

A Grand D\u00e9part in the Netherlands is a natural fit for a race dominated by the Dutch <\/em><\/p>\n\n

The Netherlands is <\/strong>the most dominant nation in women\u2019s cycling so it is fitting that it\u2019ll host the first Grand D\u00e9part <\/em>outside France. The riders will race the first three stages in the Netherlands, beginning with a flat 124km stage from Rotterdam to The Hague before another first: a double day featuring a 67km road stage and a 6.3km individual time trial, all based around Rotterdam. Of course, with the flat, open roads in this region comes the danger of crosswinds which, alongside the time trial, could make for crucial GC stages. With both of the previous yellow jerseys having been won by Dutch women (Annemiek van Vleuten and Demi Vollering) and other Dutch riders such as Marianne Vos and Lorena Wiebes having won stages, the Tour de France Femmes currently belongs to the hosts. A.S.O.\/Thomas Maheux <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
The Netherlands\u2019 Demi Vollering will get a hero\u2019s welcome at the start in Rotterdam <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

02<\/span> \u2019Ard yards<\/span><\/h4>\n\n

A second bite of the Ardennes cherry <\/em><\/p>\n\n

After the Rotterdam <\/strong>send-off comes another new nation to the Tour de France Femmes: Belgium. This spring\u2019s Ardennes Classics, in Belgium and the Netherlands, were the most closely-contested the women\u2019s peloton has seen in years. This season saw three different riders winning each of the races in varying styles, from Marianne Vos at Amstel Gold, to Kasia Niewiadoma at La Fl\u00e8che Wallone and Grace Brown in Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge. Fans of the region don\u2019t have to wait 12 months for the Ardennes swing to roll around again, with stages four and five in the region. Ardennes touchstones such as climbs of the Cauberg and La Redoute, and settlements including Valkenburg, Li\u00e8ge and Bastogne, are all visited in those middle stages. While one-day Classics are a different business to Grand Tour stages, the sharp, often vicious climbs of the Ardennes will encourage explosive racing. After her 2023 Ardennes hat-trick, defending champion Demi Vollering cut a frustrated figure through a winless 2024 Classics campaign so will be out to make amends in her season\u2019s big target. <\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
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03<\/span> Double vision<\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Olympics-Tour double has proven a quandary <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lotte Kopecky\u2019s absence at the Tour will be keenly felt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


You\u2019ll have noticed <\/strong>by now that the Tour de France Femmes is later this year, pushed back in the calendar after the Olympics road events in Paris, with the road race happening just a week before the Tour opens in Rotterdam. Now in its third year, and distanced from the men\u2019s Tour, the race won\u2019t suffer from a viewership point of view as much as it might have done in its first or second years, when it ran immediately afterwards. From a sporting perspective, however, we\u2019ve already seen it\u2019s somewhat compromised and the big name to skip the Tour to focus on the Olympics is Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime). The reigning road world champion doesn\u2019t want to overload her schedule, as she attempts to win in Paris on both road and track. For those top riders who choose to race both, the challenge will be to maintain their form over an extended period.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

04<\/span> <\/span>Vos is still boss<\/span><\/h4>\n\n

The three-time World Champ has been at the top for almost 20 years<\/em><\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

In 2023 Marianne <\/strong>Vos, the Dutch legend who first became road world champion at a time (2006) when some of her rivals hadn\u2019t yet been born, endured a sticky spell. Battling iliac artery endofibrosis \u2013 a thickening of the iliac artery often found in athletes \u2013 and numerous bouts of illness, saw her eventually going under the knife and endured one of the worst seasons of her long career. Like all the best champions, she\u2019s come back strong in 2024 and is looking back to full power, winning through the spring at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Amstel Gold Race and a Vuelta Femenina stage. Vos has proven capable of beating riders such as World Champion Lotte Kopecky and even the fastest sprinters in the peloton. Winner of two Tour stages and the green jersey on debut in 2022, on current form she\u2019s sure to add to her tally in August. <\/p>\n\n

05 <\/span>No half measures <\/span><\/h4>\n\n

Vollering out to slay the Difficult Second Album <\/em><\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Vollering\u2019s slower build to the Tour de France Femmes may well pay off<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

Defending champion Demi <\/strong>Vollering had a slow start to 2024 by her very high standards. The Dutch rider was a runaway train last season, winning Strade Bianche and a historic Ardennes clean sweep, before a stage racing campaign in which she was barely outside the top 10 between May and the Tour de France Femmes in July. <\/p>\n\n

Up until May, with a winless Classics campaign, Vollering had been trying to relocate her mojo, but as she\u2019s made it clear that she won\u2019t stay with her current team, SD Worx-Protime, perhaps she\u2019d been distracted. <\/p>\n\n

A win at La Vuelta Femenina, the first major tour of the season, in May, showed that her GC form is still very much there and with team-mate Kopecky\u2019s absence from the Tour in August, she\u2019ll retain full leadership at the race, despite the tricky contractual circumstances. <\/p>\n\n

She\u2019ll unquestionably start as favourite, but a debut win is always difficult to follow up. <\/p>\n\n

06 <\/span>Mind the gap<\/span><\/h4>\n\n

The 2023 chasm between SD Worx and the rest has been closed <\/em><\/p>\n\n

Since the introduction <\/strong>of a minimum salary and other requirements, such as maternity pay, within the Women\u2019s WorldTour in 2020, its strength has risen. It\u2019s allowed more riders to race professionally, which makes for deeper, stronger teams, and more focused teamwork, as stacked teams are capable of racing deeper into races to assist their leaders. In 2023, many of the top teams suffered multiple injuries and absences of their most dependable riders: Lidl-Trek lost Elisa Longo Borghini to illness, while time trial specialist Ellen van Dijk took maternity leave. This led to the dominance of the SD Worx team. This season Lidl-Trek have returned to their best, but they are not the only team who have strength in numbers. FDJ-Suez have plenty of options as well as Movistar, Fenix-Deceuninck, Canyon\/\/ SRAM and EF Education-Cannondale. Vollering remains the dominant GC rider in the peloton, but with so many teams able to compete on equal terms, the race is much more open. <\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n

07<\/span> Best till last<\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The showdown on Alpe d\u2019Huez is a huge moment for the race<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a new <\/strong>race such as the Tour de France Femmes, every day brings a new \u2018first\u2019. So it was only a matter of time before the race paid a visit to that most famous of Tour de France haunts, Alpe d\u2019Huez. The race\u2019s predecessor, La Course, climbed Alpine giants such as the Col d\u2019Izoard and Col de la Colombi\u00e8re, but the legend of Alpe d\u2019Huez makes it a climb like no other and it will be a fitting finale to the third edition, cementing the Tour\u2019s status as the premier stage race in the world. Even with everything that\u2019s come before \u2013 a time trial, hilly Classics-esque stages and a stage 7 summit finish at Le Grand-Bornand \u2013 Alpe d\u2019Huez, with its 21, illustrious switchbacks, will likely be the decider, and a benchmark for the future of the race.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

08<\/span> Kasia watch<\/span><\/h4>\n\n

Can Niewiadoma\u2019s spring win be a springboard for more? <\/em><\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Niewiadoma\u2019s win at La Fl\u00e8che Wallonne was a huge triumph <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

Someone who is <\/strong>not lacking form this season is Canyon\/\/ SRAM\u2019s Kasia Niewiadoma. The 29-year-old Polish rider had an impressive 2023 Tour including a heroic effort on the Col du Tourmalet on stage 7, for which she was rewarded with a third place overall and the polka dot jersey. A rider who is always willing to roll the dice, Niewiadoma had come painfully close to breaking an agonising five-year win drought numerous times last season. Although she took the gravel world title in October, road success continued to be elusive.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

In 2024, however, she\u2019s stepped up another level. Still racing aggressively and with no shortage of heart, she managed to score some of her best results in years, taking second place at the Tour of Flanders before finally winning at La Fl\u00e8che Wallonne ahead of Demi Vollering and Elisa Longo Borghini. If Niewiadoma continues her trajectory, she could be on track to win big at the Tour, and be the main challenger to Vollering for the yellow jersey. <\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

Images <\/strong>Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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