The Tashkent City Women Team minivan sits in the shadows cast by looming team buses either side of it. Riders lounge on camping chairs outside the van, eating pasta off the top of cool boxes which they're using as tables. One rider is being helped to ride the rollers by a team staff member, while the others scroll on their phones or plait their hair. Opposite, the SD Worx-Protime team bus is surrounded by gaggles of fans as the likes of Demi Vollering and Lorena Wiebes emerge from blacked-out windows wearing state-of-the-art skinsuits and aero helmets. They get on their matching S-Works Shiv time trial bikes and roll to the start of the time trial stage. Only a couple of the Tashkent City team have tri bars – they ride mismatched bike, helmet and shoe brands.
It’s a visual representation of the stark differences between the teams competing in this year’s Tour de France Femmes. Tashkent City is a team from Uzbekistan who received an automatic invite to the race because they were the Continental team with the highest number of UCI points in 2023. They secured most of these points in lower-ranked races outside of Europe – the validity of which has come into question following rumours of faked National Championship results in the country. There were already questions about their participation in the race when the start list was initially announced and now the Tour is underway, it has become clear that those doubts were substantiated.
In the opening stage of the race, four of the team’s seven riders failed to finish the flat sprint day. They started the second stage with only three riders, two of whom were dropped on the 67 kilometre route to Rotterdam. Criticism has been thrown at Tashkent for taking a spot in the world’s biggest bike race as the likes of Lifeplus-Wahoo and Volkerwessels missed out – established Continental teams who have performed well at the Tour before. However, the team’s manager, Gleb Groysman, argues his team has got every right to compete.
Photo: Tornanti
“Maybe other teams should be here, but they should have worked for it and got the points from 2023. We worked hard and it’s great for us to have this experience. I agree other Continental teams are stronger than us, but rules are rules,” Groysman told Rouleur at the end of stage three. He pointed to the lack of budget and experience as a reason for the team’s subpar performances.
“We lost four riders on the first stage and other riders are not feeling so good. We’ve had some issues with jerseys, bibs and bikes and not enough money for altitude camps. We planned to do altitude camps but we didn’t have a lot of money,” Groysman explained. “The government of Uzbekistan spent a lot of money on this team but nothing like other teams here, it’s maybe ten percent of their budget. The salary of these riders is 200-300 euros, it’s not enough, but they work hard to try and reach their goals. The goals for us are to be stronger, not win the Tour or the Olympics.”
The 58-year-old explained that he has been working with the Uzbekistan Cycling Federation since the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, adding that his contract with the team expires this year. He discussed the positive rate of progress when it comes to cycling in Uzbekistan, but also pointed out that the lack of cycling culture in the country makes it hard for riders to gain experience.
“When I arrived in Uzbekistan in 2021, only seven women cyclists existed in the country. Now we have ten, seven here and three in Uzbekistan. All these girls are from Uzbekistan, most of them are under-23. Two of the girls here are just 18-years-old. Uzbekistan is not a cycling country, there is no culture of cycling,” Groysman said. “We started three years ago from zero level but the government of Uzbekistan really wanted to reach the big goals. We got four spots in the Olympic games [two spots in the women’s road race, one in the women’s time trial and one in the men’s road race]. It was very good for a country with no cycling culture. It’s not easy for us here as we don’t have much experience.”
Groysman was hesitant to answer why the team took the decision to accept their place in the Tour de France Femmes despite knowing that their riders didn’t have experience to be competitive, instead repeatedly citing the fact that they had earned their way into the race fairly and within the UCI points scoring system. He noted that the amount of criticism the team has received has made it challenging for his riders to remain focused.
“The riders don’t speak English and don’t understand the criticism but they see the things that have been translated into Russian and they listen to it. It’s not good for them, it’s another issue for them because they are very young and in their first year for races,” Groysman explained. “Last year we only raced 1.1 or 2.2 races and this is a high level. It's not easy. All of them have cried because of the criticism. I would challenge any team to bring seven Uzbekistan riders for this race and prepare them for the Tour in three years. They’re not ready for it, but we got here by UCI points and the UCI has to change their rules. We didn’t break them. It’s not fair to critique these girls, they work very hard.”
Image: ASO/Charly Lopez
It’s clear from their performances at the Tour so far that the Tashkent City team aren’t well-equipped to compete at a race of this level. The frustration of other teams who missed out on a spot and would have been able to contest stage wins is understandable, but as Groysman points out, the issue is with the UCI system rather than his team.
There are certainly positives to having a more international professional peloton in cycling and the introduction of non-traditional cycling nations will help globalise the sport – something that is clearly needed. While Groysman will stop working with Tashkent at the end of this season, he explains that he does see genuine potential in some of the team’s riders, and hopes that other Continental teams will give them a chance.
Fundamentally, Groysman was given the job of getting the Uzbekistan team enough UCI points last year to qualify them for the biggest sporting events in the world, which he did by gaming the UCI ranking system. The result is a team in the Tour de France Femmes who are operating on a different level to the rest of the peloton. The onus will be on the UCI to stop this happening again.
“I hope some other Continental teams will take our girls to next season. Yanina Kuskova is very strong and I’m sure that in two or three years she will be ready to be at the Tour podium. I know her ability and she’s a general classification rider,” Groysman stated.
“In the WorldTour races, I think it’s the last season for us. We didn’t get enough points this year compared to in 2023 when we had a good strategy to race smaller races and get the points. Now, we just want to ensure some riders finish the Tour de France.”
Cover image: ASO/Thomas Maheux
