Nationalities, Age, Favorites… a Closer Look at the Entrants
Key points:
– A peloton composed of 144 riders from 24 teams will start the first edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (from July 24 to 31), a week from now. The Dutch contingent will be the largest, just ahead of the French.
– All the big names in women’s cycling are expected in Paris. The start list includes the top 28 riders in the UCI rankings and especially world number 1 Annemiek van Vleuten, fresh winner of her 3rd Giro, and world champion Elisa Balsamo.
ORANJE VIBES
A leading nation in women’s cycling, the Netherlands will be particularly well represented during the first edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, bringing together 24 teams of six riders. Among the 144 entrants (list updated on July 5), 29 are Dutch. That represents 20% of the peloton, a high level reflecting the oranje strength in the top 150 of the UCI world ranking. The French public will be able to cheer for 23 of their representatives. French champion Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Trek-Segafredo) and Juliette Labous (Team DSM), winner of the Tour de Burgos and a stage on the Giro, are among the local headliners. Frenchwomen should make up the second largest contingent ahead of Italy (19) and Belgium (9). Twenty-five nationalities are represented.
ALL THE STARS ALIGN
With the first 28 riders in the UCI ranking enlisted to start from Paris, the start-list of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is among the most star-studded ever. Among them, Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) is a hot favorite two weeks after winning her 3rd Giro. She will face again the three challengers that followed her in Italy: Marta Cavalli (FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope), Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo). Fans will also be able to watch the fastest sprinter of the moment, Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM), the most successful rider in history, Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma), the rising star Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) as well as the world champion Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo).
FROM DE WILDE TO LÉVÉNEZ
The average age of the participants is 26.4 years. France’s Sandra Lévénez (Cofidis), 43 years old since July 5, is the oldest while the youngest rider of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift should be Belgium’s Julie de Wilde (Plantur-Pura), who will celebrate her 20th birthday on December 8. Among the three teenagers gearing up for the Grand Départ, Ines Cantera (Roland Cogeas Edelweiss Squad) will celebrate her 20th birthday on July 30, on the road of stage 7. Cofidis comes with a second forty-year-old, Australian Rachel Neylan, but the oldest team in average is SD Worx (30.7 years), ahead of UAE Team ADQ (30.33) and Canyon//Sram Racing (30.17). The youngest formation is AG Insurance – NXTG (21.17), a Dutch team supported by the men’s structure Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl. Team DSM comes in 2nd position in this youth ranking (22.5). But they are first among the 14 World Tour teams.
13 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
Thirteen riders will start with the status of national champion: Christina Schweinberger (Austria, Plantur-Pura) – whose twin sister Kathrin is enlisted with Ceratizit-WNT -, Kim de Baat (Belgium, Plantur-Pura), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Denmark, FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope), Mavi Garcia (Spain, UAE Team ADQ), Audrey Cordon-Ragot (France, Trek-Segafredo), Liane Lippert (Germany, DSM), Elisa Balsamo (Italy, Trek-Segafredo), Christine Majerus (Luxembourg, SD Worx), Riejanne Markus (Netherlands, Jumbo-Visma), Frances Janse Van Rensburg (South Africa, Cofidis), Eugenia Bujak (Slovenia, UAE Team ADQ) and Caroline Baur (Switzerland, Roland Cogeas Edelweiss Squad). But only twelve will wear a distinctive jersey representing their country as Balsamo, who claimed the title in Italy, will wear the iridescent tunic of world champion. Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo) will also stand out as the European champion.
STELLAR STAFF
Stars will be everywhere, inside the peloton and supporting it, as many former champions are now part of the management of teams participating in the race. Among the most notable names, Anna van der Breggen is part of the SD Worx management since she retired at the end of the last season, after an extraordinarily successful career (3 world champion titles, Olympic champion, 7-time winner of La Flèche Wallonne Femmes…). Jolien D’Hoore, her teammate last year with SD Worx, a Belgian champion on the road and a world champion on the track, is another fresh retiree now acting as a sports director, with AG Insurance-NTXG, while Trek-Segafredo will once again make the most of Ina Teutenberg’s experience and leadership. Other names such as Joanne Kiesanowski (Human Powered Health), Lieselot Decroix, Carmen Small (Jumbo-Visma), Heidi Van de Vijver (Plantur-Pura) or Charlotte Bravard (St-Michel Auber 93) stand out with their experience and accomplishments on the bike. The trailblazers of the first Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift can also count on the expertise of former Tour de France contenders such as Lars Ytting Bak (Uno-X), Albert Timmer (Team DSM) and Rubens Bertogliati (UAE Team ADQ), who even wore the Maillot Jaune.
