Cycling in July is far from over! If the men’s Tour de France ends this Sunday on the Champs-Élysées after an edition marked by the Pogacar-Vingegaard duel, The 2023 Tour de France Femmes takes over with a same-day departure from Clermont-Ferrand. The second edition of 960.4 km through New Aquitaine, Occitania and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes that will finish in Pau on July 30 with an individual time trial.
At the start of this Grande Boucle, 22 teams of seven runners. A total of 154 of them will fight for eight stages to try to win the Yellow Jersey. We paint a portrait of the five who, despite not wearing the yellow tunic at the finish line, will do everything to revive the Tour de France Femmes.
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Annemiek Van Vleuten (Movistar Team): for the double?
Main wins: 4 Tour of Italy, 3 Tour of Spain, 1 Tour de France, 2 World Road Championships, 2 World Time Trial Championships, Olympic Time Trial Champion
Its history: This 40-year-old Dutch woman acquired exceptional skating and climbing skills late in life. Originally from Vleuten, she started playing soccer, but injured her knee at university. Due to the need to stay in shape, Annemiek Van Vleuten bought a bicycle and, little by little, developed a taste for discipline. At the age of 26, in 2008, she became a professional.
His emergence into the public eye came in 2016, during an episode that also paradoxically delayed his progress. As he heads towards an Olympic title at the Rio Olympics, in a turn he falls hard, suffering a concussion and microfractures of several vertebrae. The Olympic title that is still missing from his “cannibal” record.
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His goal: Clear final victory in order to achieve a double at the Tour de France and by the way a new “grand slam” of the grand tour after already winning the Tour of Spain in May and the Tour of Italy at the beginning of July. Performance already achieved last year. “Vleuty” will rely on the last two stages of the Tour that are perfect for him to win the yellow jersey: the finish at the top of the Col du Tourmalet and the 22.6 km time trial around Pau.
Juliette Labous (Team DSM-Firmenich): for the podium?
Main wins: 1st stage of the Tour of Italy, French time trial champion.
Its history: 24-year-old Bisontine started riding BMX bikes at the age of seven, following in the footsteps of her older brother Quentin. From that moment on, she never left him, following him from club to club, from mountain biking to cylo-cross where she won her first titles (junior champion of France 2014-2015). In 2017, she signed a contract with the Dutch team Sunweb, now DSM, the sports director contacted her on… Facebook!
The structure offers her a framework in which she can progress and improve: team courses up to Valence, personalized video support… Today, Juliette Labous has established herself as a leader, a hunter of general placements on big turns.
His goal: After failing to reach the podium in 2022, Juliette Labous returns to the roads of the Tour s firm intention of entering the Top 3. His recent performances are more in that direction. The Frenchwoman finished second at the Tour of Italy in early July, 3’56 behind Annemiek Van Vleuten, becoming the first tricolor woman since 2014 to reach the grand tour podium. Comfortable in the mountains and on one-day races with rough profiles, Juliette Labous has the means to achieve her ambitions.
Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx): bothering Van Vleuten?
Main wins: 2 Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne, Dutch Road Champion
Its history: Demi Vollering is often presented as the next generation of Dutch cycling, already orphaned by Anne van der Breggen, who retired from the peloton in 2021, and soon by Annemiek Van Vleuten, who raced with her last season. At the age of 26, her cycling career is currently written in the plural with “Vleuty” as she is increasingly known as a result.
In order to free herself from the shadow of her compatriot, the native Pijnacker can count on field skills. She is comfortable in the mountains, in sprints and on time trials. Forces that current world number one developed within the SD Worx team, the best team in the world joined two years ago.
His goal: The only rider who can worry Annemiek Van Vleuten at the Tour of Spain in May, Demi Vollering he can reasonably hope to win the Tour de France and thus his first big tour. The Dutch woman has been flying since the beginning of the season. As last year, Demi Vollering skipped the Tour of Italy to fully concentrate on the Tour. She will therefore have physical freshness and the desire to fight with Annemiek Van Vleuten, who defeated her in the last edition.
Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx): the fastest?
Main wins: 3 stages of the Tour of Italy, 2 stages of the Tour de France, European road champion, Dutch road champion.
Its history: The 24-year-old Dutch runner has been running for a long time hesitated between cyclocross and gymnastics. Cycling on the road? She loathed him for fear of “rubbing” to get a place in the middle of the pack. Paradoxically, when we know today that a young female cyclist is a real tightrope walker on a bicycle as she approaches the finish line. Since she appeared in 2019, the one who practices kickboxing is seen even as a daredevil by her peers.
Life was marked by Lorena Wiebes. She shares a close relationship with her brother Enrico, who is six years older than her. former alcoholic, cocaine user and homeless person. To express her love for him, Lorena Wiebes had a phrase tattooed in Arabic on her right forearm: ” Forever in my heart. “
His goal: Get as many sprint wins as possible. Or at least as good as last year at the Tour de France when she raised her arms twice before giving up during the seventh phase. The Dutch runner is the fastest in the world in a pure sprint, and she arrives in Clermont crowned with the title of European road champion to try to wear the yellow shirt in the first stage.
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Marta Cavalli (FDJ-Suez): for revival?
Main wins: Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne, Italian Road Champion
Its history: “I would literally like to change the memories I have of the Tour de France.” she hopes in a video posted on the Tour de France Femmes YouTube account. Dramatic memories for Marta Cavalli. On the second stage of the Grande Boucle 2022, the 25-year-old Italian woman was badly hit by Australian Nicole Frain, who charged at full speed at a group of runners who were already on the ground. He was then listed among the favorites to win the Tour, she quits with a concussion.
But seven months later, the effects are still there. A violent fall forcing him to put his career on hold at the beginning of March. Since then, Marta Cavalli has taken time to rebuild. Starting from Clermont, he hopes to banish the nightmares of the previous Grande Boucle.
His goal: Find the top 10 on the grand tour. In physical and mental reconstruction after a heavy fall during the last Tour de France which is why she dropped out in the second stage, Marta Cavalli has not performed at this level since last year. The woman from Lombardy, an outstanding climber, will in any case be able to count on the experience and talent of her team FDJ-Suez, a pioneer in France in women’s cycling.
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