The Grand Départ of the Tour de France Femmes in Rotterdam is just days away. As the Paris Olympics slowly draws to a close, the focus for the women’s peloton moves to the biggest stage race of the year and the fight for the coveted yellow jersey. In this year’s Tour, defending champion Demi Vollering stands out as the overwhelming favourite for the general classification victory, but there are plenty of riders hot on her heels who will want to pose a challenge to the SD Worx-Protime rider.
The duo of Giro d’Italia Donne winner Elisa Longo-Borghini and her younger teammate Gaia Realini make a formidable pairing for Lidl-Trek, while Kasia Niewiadoma and Neve Bradbury will want to ensure that Canyon//SRAM are also key contenders in the GC fight. Juliette Labous of dsm-Firmenich-PostNL and Évita Muzic of FDJ-Suez have the hopes of the French public on their shoulders for a home win in their nation’s biggest race, while veteran climber Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio is dreaming of turning a challenging season around for AG Insurance-Soudal Team.
We can expect fireworks all the way through the eight-day race from Rotterdam to the iconic finish on Alpe d’Huez and surprises are always possible in the Tour. With this in mind, we look at the outstanding candidates for yellow in this year’s Tour de France Femmes.
Demi Vollering
There was simply no one who could challenge SD Worx-Protime’s superstar general classification leader in last year’s Tour de France Femmes as she rode away from her rivals on the Col du Tourmalet. Demi Vollering is currently the unrivalled favourite to win a second yellow jersey in 2024, with victories at the Tour de Romandie, La Vuelta Femenina, Itzulia Women, Vuelta a Burgos and Tour de Suisse to her name already this season. The Dutch rider's recent 5th place at the time trial in the Olympic Games is a good sign that she is building her form nicely ahead of the Tour – it’s hard to imagine a scenario whereby Vollering isn’t the dominant rider in this year’s race.
Image: ASO/Charly Lopez
SD Worx-Protime also will bring a strong squad to support Vollering, with Niamh Fisher-Black expected to be crucial when the race heads into the mountains and the likes of Mischa Bredewold and Christine Majerus essential for protecting Vollering in the opening Dutch stages. However, the team does have split ambitions with Lorena Wiebes going for sprint victories on flat stages, so it will be important for them to balance this with ensuring Vollering is getting all the support she needs from a general classification standpoint.
There has also been murmurings of unrest within SD Worx this season surrounding Vollering’s expected departure from the team at the end of this year – this will need to be quashed to allow the riders to focus on the task in hand of winning a yellow jersey. However, on the long slopes of Alpe d’Huez, there’s no doubt that Vollering’s legs will do the talking, she’s proven her climbing ability with with wins atop Lagos de Covadonga and Mirador de Peñas Llanas at La Vuelta Femenina, Lagunas de Neila at Vuelta a Burgos and at Torgon at the Tour de Romandie.
Kasia Niewiadoma
2024 will see Kasia Niewiadoma’s third participation in the Tour de France Femmes and she has finished in third place in both 2022 and 2023. The Canyon//SRAM rider is a formidable racer, she has always proved herself as unafraid to attack and take risks, notably breaking away from Annemiek van Vleuten and Demi Vollering on the Queen stage in 2022 while the Dutch duo watched each other – she came close to taking the stage win herself. Niewiadoma has worked on her weaknesses since then, spending plenty of time at altitude to improve her performances in the high mountains as well as focusing on time trials to ensure that she doesn’t risk losing time in stages against the clock.
Image: ASO/Billy Ceusters
The Polish rider has had a good season so far, breaking her five-year winless streak at Flèche Wallonne Féminine this spring when she out climbed Vollering on the famous Mur du Huy. This victory undoubtedly would have given Niewiadoma confidence that she does have the ability to beat SD Worx when she’s on her best day, and she’ll be hoping for more of them as she begins her 2024 Tour de France campaign. Niewiadoma won’t be worried about the technical opening stages in the Netherlands and is able to thrive in a chaotic peloton, so it could all come down to her climbing legs when the race begins to head to the hills.
Canyon//SRAM brings a solid line-up to the Tour de France which includes Neve Bradbury who took a surprise win in the Giro d'Italia Women Blockhaus stage and third overall earlier this year. Time trial world champion Chloé Dygert is a rider who will be useful for protecting Niewiadoma in the flatter stages, while Elise Chabbey, Soraya Paladin, Alice Towers, and Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka complete the team.
Gaia Realini
With Elisa Longo Borghini out of this year's Tour de France Femmes following a training crash which left her with severe abrasions meaning she is unable to compete, Gaia Realini takes the mantle as Lidl-Trek's key GC hopeful. The young Italian will be making her first ever appearance in the Tour de France Femmes this year, but she is no stranger to challenging stage races. Last year, Realini proved her climbing talent by winning a stage of the La Vuelta Femenina and backed this up with a third place on the general classification behind Demi Vollering and Annemiek van Vleuten. She went on to finish on the podium of the inaugural Tour de l'Avenir Femmes that year.
Image: ASO/Unipublic
Realini's 2024 season has been impressive so far too, she has finished in the top-10 of every stage race she's started and her stand-out results include 7th in the Giro d'Italia Women and 4th at the UAE Tour Women (the opening Women's WorldTour race of the season.) Realini has struggled in flat stages and crosswinds however, with her slight frame not suited to this sort of terrain. The opening stages of this year's Tour in the Netherlands will challenge the Italian rider – she will need to remain safe and ensure she doesn't lose time so she has the opportunity to show her climbing legs on Alpe d'Huez at the end of the race.
The 23-year-old has an extremely experienced team around her to help guide her through the tricker parts of the Tour, however, with the likes of Ellen van Dijk, Lizzie Deignan and Lucinda Brand all experts on Dutch terrain. Amanda Spratt and Shirin. van Anrooij should also be crucial to helping Realini in the mountains.
Juliette Labous
When it comes to the French fans, Team dsm-firmenich-PostNL’s Juliette Labous has become a favourite after her strong showing in both editions of the Tour de France Femmes so far. She finished in fourth place in 2022 and backed that up with fifth in 2023. It’s not just in her home race that Labous has shown her climbing ability, either. She took the overall win at the Vuelta a Burgos in 2022 and the summit stage 7 victory atop Passo del Maniva at the Giro d'Italia Women, and secured second place overall at the Giro d’Italia Women in 2023. This season, she finished fourth overall at La Vuelta Femenina, third overall at Itzulia Women, fifth at Tour de Suisse and Giro d'Italia Women, and recently managed a fourth place at the Olympics time trial in Paris.
Image: RCS
Team dsm-firmenich-PostNL have done an impressive job at steadily developing Labous into a general classification contender and, now in her third Tour de France, the Frenchwoman has a serious shot at the podium in her home Grand Tour. Labous has a chance to gain time in the time trial and also will be looking forward to the longer climbs that come later in the week – she’ll be supported by strong climbers like Francesca Barale and have Pfeiffer Georgi as a road captain (Team dsm have long been known for their impressive collective strength and drilled ability to ride as a team.)
Similarly to Vollering and SD Worx, however, Labous’ team have split ambitions when it comes to the general classification and individual stage wins. Charlotte Kool will be dreaming of sprint victories and the team will be doing lead-outs for the Dutch rider on the flat days. Labous will need to ensure she stays protected and out of trouble here to avoid losing time before she gets her chance to shine in the mountains.
Évita Muzic
FDJ-Suez have been vocal about the fact they are coming into the Tour de France Femmes with two general classification leaders in Évita Muzic and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig. However, based on their results so far this season, Muzic seems like the most likely of the pairing to be able to pose a real challenge for yellow in the race this year. The French rider beat Demi Vollering on the queen stage of La Vuelta Femenina this year when she dropped the SD Worx rider on the climb to La Laguna Negra. She also finished second overall at Vuelta a Burgos and had a strong fourth place at La Flèche Wallonne. Uttrup Ludwig, on the other hand, has battled with injury this season after crashes and setbacks, so is still on the road to coming back to full fitness ahead of the Tour de France.
Image: RCS/Unipublic
Muzic is often able to rise to the occasion on big race days and she has meticulously prepared for this Tour de France after missing out on selection for the Paris Olympics. While she admitted the initial disappointment of this decision, she later added that it meant she has been fully focused on the Tour and won’t be carrying the fatigue of riders who have had a week of Olympic requirements. The 25-year-old has been known to struggle on flat stages and in crosswinds so it will be about her getting through the chaotic days in the Netherlands safely so she can do what she does best on Alpe d’Huez.
FDJ-Suez will bring a strong team to help Muzic throughout the race, including Olympic time trial champion Grace Brown who has been clear that she loves to work with and support Muzic in stage races. Riders like Léa Curinier, Amber Kraak and Coralie Demay are also reliable domestiques for Muzic and will be doing their best to ensure that the French rider doesn’t lose any time in the first half of the race.
Cover image: ASO
