Words by Daniel Benson
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL head into the Tour de France Femmes with a stacked team and ambitions to win sprint stages and contend for the yellow jersey.
Charlotte Kool will lead the line when the race kicks off in the Netherlands on Monday, August 12th and is determined to win the opening sprint stage on home roads, while Juliette Labous will aim to come to the fore in the second half of the race as the battle for the general classification intensifies.
Pivotal towards both aims is British national road champion Pfeiffer Georgi, who is set to race her third straight Femmes. The 23-year-old will take her place in Kool’s dedicated lead-out, and then turn her attention towards supporting Labous in the hilly and mountain stages. If that wasn’t enough, Georgi hopes to have her chance to grab success on the hilly stage five between Bastogne and Amnéville.
Before stage five, comes the opening three stages in the Netherlands, home of the team’s newest co-title sponsor, PostNL. The squad are determined to take the opening sprint stage and pull on the first maillot jaune of this year’s race.
“For the team, having three stages in Holland, it’s a really big goal, especially with Charlotte for the sprints. In the second half of the race, we’ll be more focused towards Juliette and the GC. I’m really excited to be heading to the race, and it’s a really great course this year. My role is to be part of those lead-outs and then help Juliette. We were already a Dutch team, but with PostNL coming on board, and with them being a massive Dutch partner, that adds to everything. There’s a bit more pressure to perform but we’re all looking forward to it,” Georgi said just before boarding a flight to the Netherlands on Saturday morning.