After a truly incredible and memorable start to the Tour de France Femmes for Team dsm-firmenich PostNL with two epic stage wins in the Netherlands and wearing the yellow and green jersey, Charlotte Kool and Becky Storrie have both unfortunately stepped off the bike today. Kool was suffering from fatigue, while Storrie was involved in a crash, sustaining a broken left collarbone.
Kool said: “It’s of course always sad to leave a race like the Tour de France Femmes early, as I really wanted to finish. It would have made it even more special than it already was. I’ve spent a lot of energy the past few days and wasn’t feeling too well today, and I was struggling to eat on the bike early on, so on a stage like today it is really hard to continue. I’m still quite disappointed but in the end I think I will be able to look back on an incredible Tour de France with the two stage wins and yellow jersey with the team; those memories will stay with me for life. I have no regrets and I fought for as long as I could. I want to wish the rest of the girls and team good luck for the rest of today and tomorrow’s final stage.”
Storrie expressed: “I am very sad to leave the race like this. It’s been a great week with the girls so far and I was looking forward to support Juliette for the GC in the mountains this weekend. I will go home now to see what the next steps are, reset and I will come back stronger.“
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Albert Timmer added: “The amazing start to the race with two stage wins and the yellow jersey on home soil and the battle for green the last days did cost Charlotte a lot of energy. While she did her best supporting the team with our GC goals, the fatigue was just too much today and she stepped of the bike, ahead of the big mountains this weekend. She will now recover from this outstanding week and then switch her focus to the next races.”
Continuing Timmer said: “Becky is a great teammate and brings a lot of good energy to the team both on and off the bike so it is a real shame to lose her from the race. We were heading into her favoured terrain where she would have been a key rider in support of our GC goals with Juliette. It’s disappointing to lose her and Charlotte from the race but the rest of the squad are really motivated to continue in a good way here this weekend.”
Finally, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL doctor Camiel Aldershof concluded: “We saw that Charlotte had spent a lot of energy in the first five days here and today that simply took its toll on her with a build-up of fatigue, and she could no longer continue. She will head home now and rest up and recover before getting back on the bike. As for Becky, assessments at the finish revealed what we had unfortunately suspected, that she has broken her left collarbone; the same side that she broke earlier in the year. Becky will now head home and take the required time off the bike to recover before we start to look at possible training or racing later in the season.”
