“The plan is clear,” FDJ-Suez team manager Stephen Delcourt says with a sense of confident finality to a Zoom call full of journalists. He sits in a conference room alongside the team’s press officer and is addressing his squad’s future. FDJ-Suez have just confirmed the signing of French champion Juliette Labous and have hinted that there may be more big names announced yet in this transfer season. It feels like a pivotal moment in the team’s progression: they are building something exciting.
“In 2028, we want to be able to win the three Grand Tours and the six Classics: Strade, Flanders, Roubaix, Amstel, Liège and Fleche. We already have won Fleche and Liège, but we’ve not yet worn the leader's jersey in a Grand Tour,” Delcourt continues.
One of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of FDJ-Suez’s master plan to become the very best professional women’s cycling team in the world, however, is SD Worx-Protime. For over a decade – formerly as Boels-Dolmans Cycling Team – the Dutch squad have been at the forefront of women’s cycling, winning Classics, stage races and World Championship titles in abundance. In 2024, SD Worx took victories in Strade Bianche, Paris-Roubaix, Gent Wevelgem and the Vuelta España Femenina. The team’s star rider, Demi Vollering, is the overwhelming favourite to take victory at the Tour de France Femmes next week.
Delcourt argues, however, that the gap between SD Worx and the rest of the women’s peloton is narrowing, pointing to various instances this season so far whereby others have managed to get the better of the team.
“I think the gap this year to SD Worx is, step by step, getting closer. An example is the Olympic road race. Who could imagine that Kristen Faulkner wins a gold medal with a breakaway, with Lotte Kopecky and Blanka Vas? We also watched the difficulties Kopecky had to follow her. Liège–Bastogne–Liège is another good example [where Grace Brown took victory] and also when Évita [Muzic] won the Queen stage of the Vuelta, we worked hard for that,” Delcourt says. “We want to be the best team but always with the same goals, values and ethics.”
Image: Zac Williams/SWpix
It’s clear that FDJ-Suez have a vision that goes beyond simply signing the riders who are winning the most to get results. Delcourt is clear that he values the “human” side of the sport as much as the physical, with a focus on developing his current riders as well as bringing new ones into the team. He believes that Giro d’Italia Donne and Vuelta España Femenina stage winner Évita Muzic is going to be crucial to his ambitious project – the 25-year-old Frenchwoman has had an impressive season and got the better of Vollering in Spain at the Vuelta a few months ago, dropping the SD Worx rider on the climb to La Laguna Negra.
“Évita is the centre of the project and she always pushes me to recruit the best riders because she knows when she has those people with her, she pushes herself to the limit,” Delcourt says. “She’s fully aware of the future.”
As for Muzic herself, the form she showed in Spain has given her confidence heading into the Tour de France Femmes next week. While it seems like Vollering could be unbeatable in her current form, the French rider remains confident that anything is possible throughout the eight-day stage race.
“It was really cool to win that day [at the Vuelta], especially in front of Demi, and now I have lots more confidence,” Muzic explained. “I normally always need something to click in my mind. Now I know I have beaten her one time, so I can do it one more time. I will try to do the best of myself in every stage and with an amazing team like this, I just need to push all I have and have no regrets at the end.”
Delcourt confirms that Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Muzic will head to this year’s Tour as dual leaders for the French team. While having two riders aiming for general classification can, sometimes, cause friction in a team if neither is prepared to sacrifice their chances, Delcourt argues that honesty and transparency will make his plan work.
“It’s a new step for Évita after an amazing Vuelta. Évita has a special place in the team as all the riders and staff want to support her. For example, normally Grace Brown would have a break after the Olympics and recover for the Worlds but after the Vuelta, she asked to change her programme because she wanted to do another Grand Tour with Évita to feel that same emotion. That is a sign she is a good leader” Delcourt says.
“We need to respect that Cecilie needs time after her crashes this season. She has been our leader for the past three years and we know that Cecilie is also able to work for Évita if she can’t work for a stage win or the general classification. She agrees with the plan and is there to be co-leader and show she can come back. If she’s not able to do it, she’s able to work hard for Évita too. It’s really transparent.”
Under Delcourt’s leadership and with the buy-in of riders when it comes to both the long-term and short-term plans for FDJ-Suez, it’s hard not to believe in the team’s plans for the upcoming years. They are on a path of steady progression and have improved each season – riders like Muzic show huge potential for growth, and Delcourt isn’t afraid to invest in his athletes to bring them to success. SD Worx and Vollering might still be the standout favourites for this year’s Tour de France Femmes, but there’s a sense that change is on the horizon.
Cover image: ASO/Unipublic
