Now into its third edition as the Tour de France Femmes, the peloton will take to the Netherlands for a first foreign Grand Départ of one of the biggest races on the Women’s cycling calendar; where a week of exciting racing awaits them as they tackle a variety of terrain.
Beginning in Rotterdam, the home of the largest seaport in Europe, the sprinters will be looking to cast their nets far and wide as they duke it out to wear the coveted Mailliot Jaune in an expected fast finale. Day two of racing sees a split day, with a short sprint stage in the morning followed by a time trial later in the day. Heading southwards, the route traverses some of the famous Ardennes hills in Belgium where those who specialise in the hilly spring classics are expected to come to the fore. Returning to France, the sprinters will possibly get one last chance although the puncheurs will look to derail them, while the following day could be terrain for the breakaway. The closing weekend sees the race hit the mountains with a summit finish on Le Grand-Bornand to whet the appetite ahead of the final day of action, where the Tour ends in spectacular fashion atop the famous Alpe d’Huez; where the GC battle will be on until the line.
Coming into the race after a string of solid recent results, the Team dsm-firmenich PostNL squad will aim to once again be at the forefront of the race; hunting for stage wins and eyeing the best possible GC result.
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Albert Timmer said: “We have performed well in the first two editions of the Tour de France Femmes and we are aiming to continue that this year. It is exciting to be able to start on home Dutch soil and we will be targeting those opening sprint stages with Charlotte as our finisher. We have a really strong lead-out group to support and position her for those finales, to give us the best chance possible in the all-out efforts to the line. Like last year, we also have the combined goal of going for a top GC result with Juliette; we’ve performed consistently on that front this year and with good climbing support, we believe that we can do so once again at the Tour. In the more transitional stages, we will ride smartly and if an opportunity presents itself then we will also continue our aggressive and attacking approach to hunt for those stage results, before we tackle the high mountains in the final weekend. We will need to ride well as a team throughout the week, but everyone is looking forward to taking to the start line in Rotterdam.”
Resident Dutch sprint finisher Charlotte Kool added: “I’m really excited for the start of the Tour de France in the Netherlands; it’s really special. The first few stages are actually around where my boyfriend is from, so I know the roads really well there and stage three begins in Valkenburg which is also super close to the team’s Keep Challenging Center in Sittard, so they are also home training roads for us. I think the route is special this year, with a lot of opportunities for the team. We have some real hard stages where Juliette can go for it in the GC, but there are some flatter stages at the beginning of the race where we will go for it with me as finisher in the sprints. I think it will be amazing with all of the Dutch public on the roadside and I hope that everyone will cheer us on. Last year the Tour was good for us, we maybe missed that win to really crown it off, but we all did our best and fought to the end; and we had a nice GC with Juliette. For me personally this year I will be satisfied if I do everything to be the best version of myself at the Tour de France. Of course, we are aiming to go for a stage win but it’s important to try everything we can and enjoy it too. With Juliette we really want to try and aim for another top result in GC again, I have a lot of confidence and trust in her so we will fully support her for those goals. We have a really strong team that can give our all each day. I’m just really excited to get started.”
