Tour de France Femmes 2024 (August 12th-18th)

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Best GT of the year, including any of the men's GT's (Sure, one to go...but). This one was actully interesting. What an amazing race, and even more amazing final stage!!! So happy for Niewiadoma!!!

 

[Oldermanish]

Fortunately, Kasia's not that stupid.

And the moment passed for what would add a comparable level of credibility with the Tour's history, as well as other GTs. The fact that Demi seems to be at odds with her team is where it starts and it's understandable no other team would demonstrate mutual rider respect if SD Worx(dont worx) didn't. Teammates and other competitors making bullsh*t excuses after the fact about radios, not seeing things....betrays the fact that there is little sense of mutual need to honor each other, yet.

GT guys train for months to be domestiques, sprinters, major contenders and understand when a major crash takes down co-racers; it might be a good idea to set a detente'. What goes around comes around and they all hope to get that courtesy and not lose a season's preparation for a random crash that's not their fault. Catching a draft off of multiple team cars to regain a field is one of those examples but 6km from a finish doesn't give any time.

 

[Izzyeviel]

TOUR DE FRANCE FEMMES AVEC ZWIFT Prize Money

CANYON//SRAM RACING 58 980,00€
TEAM SD WORX - PROTIME 52 600,00€
FENIX-DECEUNINCK 24 670,00€
LIDL - TREK 19 750,00€
FDJ-SUEZ 16 730,00€
AG INSURANCE - SOUDAL TEAM 13 720,00€
TEAM DSM-FIRMENICH POSTNL 11 390,00€
CERATIZIT - WNT PRO CYCLING TEAM 11 160,00€
MOVISTAR TEAM 8 060,00€
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE 8 000,00€
ARKEA - B&B HOTELS WOMEN 4 940,00€
LOTTO DSTNY LADIES 3 190,00€
UNO-X MOBILITY 2 990,00€
EF - OATLY - CANNONDALE 2 820,00€
UAE TEAM ADQ 2 690,00€
ST MICHEL - MAVIC - AUBER93 2 210,00€
LABORAL KUTXA - FUNDACION EUSKADI 1 140,00€L
IV-ALULA-JAYCO 810,00€
HUMAN POWERED HEALTH 400,00€
ROLAND 330,00€
COFIDIS WOMEN TEAM 280,00€
TASHKENT CITY WOMEN PROFESSIONAL CYCLING TEAM 0,00€
TOTAL : 246 860,00€

For comparison with the men, UAE took home 806,810 Euros as the best team & Red Bull the worst took home 16,710Euros. Total prize money for the men: 2,282,000 Euros.

 

[jmdirt]

Great race with a great final stage!
DV, way to go for it!
KN, way to hang tough!

I saw mini Phinney along the road yelling for his lady today! EDIT: and at the podium ceremony.

 

[Warhawk]

I do feel like all the talk about Demi's team letting her down, while true, sorta unjustly makes it seem like Kasia backed into the win. Sure, she had an advantage going into the day, but Kasia was a minute behind at the top of the Glandon with 50km to go and lost the virtual lead a few k's later on the descent. All that advantage she had was gone with a huge amount of racing left. She couldn't ride to limit losses anymore because she'd already reached that limit, at that point she had to step up and ride to win the race, and she did.

 

[yaco]

Cool race, great result. Compelling drama with very satisfying treasons and betrayals. Taylor Phinney's cameo on the final stage to cheer his girl was fun. Had forgotten about that guy!

Taylor was running more quickly up the climb, than he ever did on a bike.

 

[Sciatic]

Taylor was running more quickly up the climb, than he ever did on a bike.

Funny. I wonder if it occurred to him to think, “wait, I used to hate fans running alongside me when I suffered up a tough climb.”

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

One of the most dramatic, exciting bike races I've ever seen.

Chapeau, femmes!

 

[Black Betsy]

Yep.

Kasia's most important domestiques in the race, in order:

1) Lorena Wiebes
2) Danny Stam
3) Anna van der Breggen
4) Lucinda Brand
5) Évita Muzic

Not to be critical of the Canyon team, they did everything they could for her, but when Neve Bradbury was dropped before the big move on Glandon I thought there was no chance Kasia could defend from there, but she got some crucial allies in the forms of those others, without whom she wouldn't have been able to hold on.

And she wouldn't have been in the position to hold on if it weren't for the first three.

Don't forget Chloe Dygert, loaded like a freight train, pulling like an aeroplane momentarily after the crash! At least she was paid to do so.

 

[Black Betsy]

Podium

First podium ceremony I've watched since ages. I felt great for Princess Demi not winning a jersey and thus she didn't have to endure more humiliation.

 

[Russell in France]

Hi all,

A few photos from yesterday's stage to Alpe d'Huez taken at hairpin 3.

Cheers, Russell

 

[jaylew]

which is Demi's spirit to be generous to a fault, with her "teammates" and even blame herself for this, there is no question across the whole race that if SD Worx all rode as a team supporting Demi, and that means protecting her in the bunch, making sure she doesnt crash or you take her out, remember it was her own teammate who took her down in that flippin crash, shielding her, actually riding to make a difference. Apparently Brand was interviewed on Dutch TV post stage today and said she didnt know what the 4 SDWorx riders who went up the road were upto as they didnt ride hard enough to do anything.

Yes, her team could and should have done a better job but none of that would have even mattered if showed any sense of urgency at all, which she certainly recognized.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

One thing I would be wary of, is that the insane level of epicness that we got yesterday will probably encourage ASO to give us more "seven stages of jockeying for position before one big mountain stage that answers all the questions" designs, not realising that SD Worx' dysfunctionality gave them lightning in a bottle here, in the same way as the epic final week of the 2010 Giro was necessitated by the L'Aquila stage and you can't bank on a 50-man break including past and future GT winners gaining 13 minutes mid-race every year. However, one thing that we do now have which we didn't previously was a signature stage, an epic showdown, something that legitimises the legacy of the Tour de France Femmes; a battle that feels like part of the history of cycling that can be talked about in years to come, the closest Tour finish, the all-timer defence of the jersey. Something that belongs in the history and adds to the iconography of Alpe d'Huez; Vollering on the tarmac broken, Kasia not knowing if she's won and breaking down, holding her bike above her head, her husband running up the mountain in the last 2km alongside her... it's the most relevant Alpe d'Huez has been since 2008, and arguably the best mountain stage since Stelvio 2020.

And its fallout could be long as well. Have SD Worx just "Contadored" Vollering? I think it's very possible. I know that my readings of the SD Worx situation have largely been sympathetic to Vollering over the last two years, possibly too much, and I've taken some flak for it, but I've read Wiebes and Kopecky as the most selfish riders there, and that Vollering has only really had issues with the team where her and Kopecky's aims and actions have intertwined, such as Kopecky's antics at last year's Tour and Strade Bianche. However, many had fired back that Demi was similarly selfish and unlikable, but you'd expect a fair bit of "you reap what you sow" kind of response to this if that were the case, and you certainly wouldn't have expected her to handle the defeat with the kind of dignity that she has done. A lot of people who have been either indifferent to or even disliked Vollering have viewed her in a sympathetic light as a result of this race and her treatment by the team, and the fact that the response to the team's posts about it have been so universal seems like it's created a groundswell of support for her in the same way as Contador probably never grows to become as popular as he was if it weren't for the Hog's core's deliberate marginalisation and ostracisation of him in the 2009 Tour.

One thing that this does raise as a noteworthy question is the role of Anna van der Breggen in all of this. While SD Worx' top-heaviness has resulted in a lot of conflicts of goals over the years, the disunity has really accelerated in recent years. Anna and Demi worked very well together back in 2021, with a kind of retiring master-understudy relationship. But I don't think it's earth-shattering news to say that a lot of people have viewed Anna's time in the team car as having been disastrous; I don't know if it's that she is unwilling to check any egos and offend anybody, or that tactics on the fly and the strength to respond to moves came so easily and naturally for her that she doesn't offer enough guidance, or what, but the team's tactics have been questionable at best lately. The fact Vollering has been the one to get shafted by most of the worst decisions could be coincidental, but with the coterminous announcement of van der Breggen's return to the bike, it lends it a sinister overtone; with Wiebes reinventing herself for durability and Kopecky's realm extending ever further into the mountains with her win at the UAE Tour and her performance at Blockhaus, the area of the calendar where the team would be solely behind Vollering has already been cut down significantly, but adding van der Breggen to the mix would erode this entirely. Anna VDB has been with the team since 2017 and her coming across from Rabobank was almost a watershed moment that earmarked the end of the transition period through 2015 and 2016 from Rabobank being the dominant force in the sport to Boels-Dolmans/SD Worx taking up that mantle. With the end of Guarnier's peak years, the retirement of Evelyn Stevens, and then a year later Lizzie Deignan taking her first year out for motherhood, it swiftly became van der Breggen's team... it seems inconceivable that she would be coming back if she didn't think she could win things, but it seems like in order for the team to be working for her when she's been off the bike for three years, she needs to not be a secondary option, and in the races where her skillset would allow for her goals not to be subsumed to those of Kopecky or Wiebes, there is a big Demi Vollering-shaped obstacle. Kopecky is under contract for a few years yet. Wiebes - assuming she's on a deal big enough that nobody offers her more money entitling her to walk as per contract stipulations - is under contract for a while too. Vollering's contract was due, and conspiratorially, you could read the actions of the team car in the last 12 months or so as giving her a helping hand out the door.

I mean, Nike care enough about Vollering to decorate the side of a Paris building for her at the Olympics. Specialized care enough about Vollering to want to go with her when she moves team. SD Worx care enough about Vollering to let their riders go to the press and announce that they saw "something yellow on the floor" and that their team leader - in yellow - was no longer with them, but was either so monumentally stupid that she couldn't connect the dots, or so monumentally selfish that she thought coming 8th in a stage - a stage! - was more important to the team than winning the GC of the Tour de France.

Think about that. It was more important not to hurt Lorena's pride by telling her she couldn't sprint for 8th place than to expend a domestique to help limit the losses of the strongest stage racer in women's cycling because they're so used to being totally overpowered that they figured, hey, they can take it. But that's not on Anna van der Breggen. That's on Danny Stam. He's managed this s**t-show for several years and he has a key role here too: this is the man that said that he and his team don't view Niewiadoma as a threat because she'll always overwork herself and burn herself out. And I mean, he's not necessarily wrong, as somebody who's followed Kasia's career for a decade, she does do that, but it's an assumption that could - and did - come back and bite them, because they figured they could afford to abandon Demi to her fate in pursuit of that illustrious 8th place in the sprint behind the front group, because they can just take that time back whenever they want. Again, the team are used to being overpowered and think that they can just brute force their way out of any problem, so they don't need to work as a team. And all too often in recent years other teams have helped them out time and time again, enabling them to continue to hold this attitude. The ascent of Alpe d'Huez was like Danny Stam being hit in the face with a sledgehammer of hubris for his arrogance and disrespectfulness. And by and large, public opinion appears to agree - sympathising with Vollering as the victim of the team's arrogance and dysfunction, and largely laughing in the faces of those responsible.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

2023 Tour De Suisse
2023 Vuelta
2023 Strade Bianche
2024 Tour de France Femmes
The betrayals (backstabbing) of fellow SD Worx riders (and their DS) towards Demi continue. Shocking behavior.

which is Demi's spirit to be generous to a fault, with her "teammates" and even blame herself for this, there is no question across the whole race that if SD Worx all rode as a team supporting Demi, and that means protecting her in the bunch, making sure she doesnt crash or you take her out, remember it was her own teammate who took her down in that flippin crash, shielding her, actually riding to make a difference. Apparently Brand was interviewed on Dutch TV post stage today and said she didnt know what the 4 SDWorx riders who went up the road were upto as they didnt ride hard enough to do anything.

you get those 4 seconds, and more.

but the biggest hit was the time gap that crash gave her, partly because I think we will learn she has fractured bones which limited her ability to ride today especially, but also the teams response to minimise it.

Im still waiting to see if any of her team mates post on socials about how gutted they are they didnt win the race as a team, and offer somekind of emotional support to Demi, I think Ill be waiting a long time.

I cheered for Niewiadoma yesterday, but would cheer for Vollering next year to get her revenge. But in the light of the above, I can't help wondering whether this was blind selfishness of teammates and lack of team work/communication/organisation on the part of SD Worx, or whether Vollering has somehow, at some stage, seriously alienated herself from the rest of the team. Has she made herself "that guy" at some point?

Anyone thats raced on a seriously competitive team knows that guy. It happened to me several times and the forces that managed each team's policy invited that guy to go elsewhere. I didn't need to say a word and the reception those individuals received from other competitors made those incidents much more bearable.

Those sort of acts tend to be part of an eternal reputation that you can't hide from, wouldn't you think?

No evidence, so no accusation, just wondering aloud.

 

[MLKarlos]

2023 Tour De Suisse
2023 Vuelta
2023 Strade Bianche
2024 Tour de France Femmes
The betrayals (backstabbing) of fellow SD Worx riders (and their DS) towards Demi continue. Shocking behavior.

I guess she has plenty of reasons to leave. Should just be days until official confirmation

 

[slow_climber]

One thing I would be wary of, is that the insane level of epicness that we got yesterday will probably encourage ASO to give us more "seven stages of jockeying for position before one big mountain stage that answers all the questions" designs, not realising that SD Worx' dysfunctionality gave them lightning in a bottle here, in the same way as the epic final week of the 2010 Giro was necessitated by the L'Aquila stage and you can't bank on a 50-man break including past and future GT winners gaining 13 minutes mid-race every year. However, one thing that we do now have which we didn't previously was a signature stage, an epic showdown, something that legitimises the legacy of the Tour de France Femmes; a battle that feels like part of the history of cycling that can be talked about in years to come, the closest Tour finish, the all-timer defence of the jersey. Something that belongs in the history and adds to the iconography of Alpe d'Huez; Vollering on the tarmac broken, Kasia not knowing if she's won and breaking down, holding her bike above her head, her husband running up the mountain in the last 2km alongside her... it's the most relevant Alpe d'Huez has been since 2008, and arguably the best mountain stage since Stelvio 2020.

And its fallout could be long as well. Have SD Worx just "Contadored" Vollering? I think it's very possible. I know that my readings of the SD Worx situation have largely been sympathetic to Vollering over the last two years, possibly too much, and I've taken some flak for it, but I've read Wiebes and Kopecky as the most selfish riders there, and that Vollering has only really had issues with the team where her and Kopecky's aims and actions have intertwined, such as Kopecky's antics at last year's Tour and Strade Bianche. However, many had fired back that Demi was similarly selfish and unlikable, but you'd expect a fair bit of "you reap what you sow" kind of response to this if that were the case, and you certainly wouldn't have expected her to handle the defeat with the kind of dignity that she has done. A lot of people who have been either indifferent to or even disliked Vollering have viewed her in a sympathetic light as a result of this race and her treatment by the team, and the fact that the response to the team's posts about it have been so universal seems like it's created a groundswell of support for her in the same way as Contador probably never grows to become as popular as he was if it weren't for the Hog's core's deliberate marginalisation and ostracisation of him in the 2009 Tour.

One thing that this does raise as a noteworthy question is the role of Anna van der Breggen in all of this. While SD Worx' top-heaviness has resulted in a lot of conflicts of goals over the years, the disunity has really accelerated in recent years. Anna and Demi worked very well together back in 2021, with a kind of retiring master-understudy relationship. But I don't think it's earth-shattering news to say that a lot of people have viewed Anna's time in the team car as having been disastrous; I don't know if it's that she is unwilling to check any egos and offend anybody, or that tactics on the fly and the strength to respond to moves came so easily and naturally for her that she doesn't offer enough guidance, or what, but the team's tactics have been questionable at best lately. The fact Vollering has been the one to get shafted by most of the worst decisions could be coincidental, but with the coterminous announcement of van der Breggen's return to the bike, it lends it a sinister overtone; with Wiebes reinventing herself for durability and Kopecky's realm extending ever further into the mountains with her win at the UAE Tour and her performance at Blockhaus, the area of the calendar where the team would be solely behind Vollering has already been cut down significantly, but adding van der Breggen to the mix would erode this entirely. Anna VDB has been with the team since 2017 and her coming across from Rabobank was almost a watershed moment that earmarked the end of the transition period through 2015 and 2016 from Rabobank being the dominant force in the sport to Boels-Dolmans/SD Worx taking up that mantle. With the end of Guarnier's peak years, the retirement of Evelyn Stevens, and then a year later Lizzie Deignan taking her first year out for motherhood, it swiftly became van der Breggen's team... it seems inconceivable that she would be coming back if she didn't think she could win things, but it seems like in order for the team to be working for her when she's been off the bike for three years, she needs to not be a secondary option, and in the races where her skillset would allow for her goals not to be subsumed to those of Kopecky or Wiebes, there is a big Demi Vollering-shaped obstacle. Kopecky is under contract for a few years yet. Wiebes - assuming she's on a deal big enough that nobody offers her more money entitling her to walk as per contract stipulations - is under contract for a while too. Vollering's contract was due, and conspiratorially, you could read the actions of the team car in the last 12 months or so as giving her a helping hand out the door.

I mean, Nike care enough about Vollering to decorate the side of a Paris building for her at the Olympics. Specialized care enough about Vollering to want to go with her when she moves team. SD Worx care enough about Vollering to let their riders go to the press and announce that they saw "something yellow on the floor" and that their team leader - in yellow - was no longer with them, but was either so monumentally stupid that she couldn't connect the dots, or so monumentally selfish that she thought coming 8th in a stage - a stage! - was more important to the team than winning the GC of the Tour de France.

Think about that. It was more important not to hurt Lorena's pride by telling her she couldn't sprint for 8th place than to expend a domestique to help limit the losses of the strongest stage racer in women's cycling because they're so used to being totally overpowered that they figured, hey, they can take it. But that's not on Anna van der Breggen. That's on Danny Stam. He's managed this s**t-show for several years and he has a key role here too: this is the man that said that he and his team don't view Niewiadoma as a threat because she'll always overwork herself and burn herself out. And I mean, he's not necessarily wrong, as somebody who's followed Kasia's career for a decade, she does do that, but it's an assumption that could - and did - come back and bite them, because they figured they could afford to abandon Demi to her fate in pursuit of that illustrious 8th place in the sprint behind the front group, because they can just take that time back whenever they want. Again, the team are used to being overpowered and think that they can just brute force their way out of any problem, so they don't need to work as a team. And all too often in recent years other teams have helped them out time and time again, enabling them to continue to hold this attitude. The ascent of Alpe d'Huez was like Danny Stam being hit in the face with a sledgehammer of hubris for his arrogance and disrespectfulness. And by and large, public opinion appears to agree - sympathising with Vollering as the victim of the team's arrogance and dysfunction, and largely laughing in the faces of those responsible.

Thank you for that, really great read.

Hubris and incompetence are almost always more likely than conspiracy!

 

[awavey]

First podium ceremony I've watched sinctbf e ages. I felt great for Princess Demi not winning a jersey and thus she didn't have to endure more humiliation.

Tbf i think she did but I don't think they showed it, because she's in the purple Wwt rankings leaders jersey top in those interviews.

 

[awavey]

I cheered for Niewiadoma yesterday, but would cheer for Vollering next year to get her revenge. But in the light of the above, I can't help wondering whether this was blind selfishness of teammates and lack of team work/communication/organisation on the part of SD Worx, or whether Vollering has somehow, at some stage, seriously alienated herself from the rest of the team. Has she made herself "that guy" at some point?

It's difficult to judge, as from the outside, Demi comes across as the perfect teamie to have.

yes shes driven, yes shes focussed, most winners and top athletes have to be, and yes she keeps herself away from others alot of the time and does her own thing.

Maybe some interpret that as special treatment or don't appreciate getting dragged away for weeks at high altitude camps for her, if shes not that socialable on them.

But you dont hear her complaining to the press about anything, she doesnt publicly screw her teammates or the team. She always thanks her team mates,seems to enjoy their success as much as her own,is prepared to actually ride for another rider, when clearly others on the team don't.

and classic example Marjerus posts a slightly non commital end of TdFF instagram, as shes retiring its more focussed on her end of a race than the team. Demi posts a heartfelt thankyou note as a comment. Now she doesn't have to do that in fact I'm always worried if team mates are only communicating via social media that way, but she did it anyway. And in her interviews she's blaming herself for the time loss, not the team, not the support.

Or riding up Alpe d'Huez, she wasn't thinking about the race or her position or losing the race, it was those cancer charity riders that she was focussed on.

NfB seems to be on "team Demi", as is Mischa both supporting her for the podium, Marlen too does also who was a big miss in this race.

So there are riders who support her on the team, and it might not be the others don't they're just too selfish and focussed on themselves and with this attitude of well we can just out pace everyone as normal, they've forgotten how to ride together as a team

we need someone within to spill the beans because I don't see how the public face of Demi at least chimes to the way they treat her.

I mean the whole thing with the contract, the way the team owner basically got the hump with her, publicly too, not because she did anything other than let theyre offer time expire.

 

[JR1012]

Can someone translate?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1825516570929741973

View: https://x.com/baby_guarischi/status/1825516570929741973/photo/2

 

[mrgmyers]

Best GT of the year, including any of the men's GT's (Sure, one to go...but). This one was actully interesting. What an amazing race, and even more amazing final stage!!! So happy for Niewiadoma!!!

I agree, this was one of the best GTs I have watched in a long time, BUT Eurosport clearly did not think it was worth giving it coverage from the start of every stage. I was genuinely shocked when the coverage only started halfway through the final stage, "Home of Cycling", my arse. I have written to them.

 

[mrgmyers]

I am actually happy that Niewiadoma won and that Vollering won the stage. I was cheering for Vollering, but she tried her best. She had two options to attack and unfortunately failed at the selected one. There was no warranty that She would succeed waiting at Alpe d'Huez. Additionally, she was unlucky to have partnered with the worst possible rider. I’m not criticizing Rooijakkers because she played her game very well. I’m just saying that Vollering was unlucky it had to be her.

That said, what SD Worx did was disgusting, stupid, and inexcusable. The stages in women’s races are not so valuable that you could trade one for a Tour win. It’s just very, very stupid. No excuses, as Horner said. No radios? LOL. Look around—Vollering wasn’t there, and Niewiadoma and her team were pushing to the maximum. Maybe if you were blind, you might not have noticed.

As we all know, Cycling is a team sport; the real question is, WHY didn't Vollering's teammates back her up? We know they can do it. It seems to me there maybe another reason for her leaving SD Works?

 

[awavey]

According to Google translate roughly speaking it says...

"And it is precisely because of the desire to sacrifice that we have for each other that we never stop and that we
allows you to dream big.
There are days when everything goes well and you win (and everyone is friends) the media/people are elated and you are a hero and then there are the days where everything goes wrong and you lose (and there are true friends) and the media/ people are all against you because you are a loser.
I have spent years of my career thinking first about others and then about myself, I have missed opportunities and made decisions that I do not regret because they were made from the heart, in every team I have played I have always carried forward the philosophy that the group is strength, that discipline day after day makes you a champion, that on the road you must put your heart first and then your legs....... and until the last day of my career I will give my heart for my teammates, because I know that they they themselves will give their hearts for THE TEAM. Always and in any case, even more
when we return home empty-handed, but with the
head held high, proud of having given our best for our Leaders.

Proud of us girls.
Proud of our Leaders.
Proud of you Lorena, it is a pleasure to share moments of my career and life with you, who are a leader with a big heart, never change,
not even in the face of the worst criticism.
Proud of you Demi, who from the first day I met you have been a fantastic person on and off the bike, your professionalism is immense and your sensitivity is unique.
Proud of our tireless staff, always ready to make us smile and never miss anything (you are our strength).
Proud of our directors always ready to
defend ourselves in front of everything and everyone.
Proud of our sponsors, thanks to you who give us the chance to dream big.
Thanks to those who spent 5 (or 10) minutes of theirs
time to read these words.
Thanks to those who have supported women's cycling in recent days."

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Reads like ‚I always give everything for my leaders but if my teammates don‘t do this I tell them to never change because I just want to be on good terms with everyone.‘ Just sounds like office politics and not having principles.

 

[xo 1]

I mean seriously what does it say when Rooijakkers could have won today.

That's the point that sticks least well with me -- imagine if Rooijakkers had ended up in yellow.

Turning this over and over in my head, part of the solution here is a longer race, so the ill fortune Demi suffered can be played out. She ran out of road over a relatively minor accident.

 

[Izzyeviel]

I still can't believe Kasia actually won. All these years I've been cheering her on whilst despairing at her 'tactics' I honestly believed she was past it. And shes only gone and won the big race. I don't think I'm going to stop buzzing anytime soon.