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

[awavey]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1825253243485663687

View: https://x.com/LeTourFemmes/status/1825253243485663687

 

[Andy262]

I just watched on catch up with no gen on the outcome….

Firstly what a race. Tremendous finish, totally vindicates the decision to have a properly hard parcours.

Demi, you were shafted by your team days ago. You deserved better. Especially from Wiebes.

Paulina, great ride, this parcours brought out the best in her. Thought she might win halfway up the climb but great effort.

Kasia, I thought you’d blown it at the bottom of the Alpe but great defensive ride. Chapeau.

 

[sam6]

I was busy earlier but just watched the highlights

4 seconds! This is too funny!!! Hope Lorena Wiebes is proud of that 8th place!!

 

[sam6]

Also, was Vollering right to attack so early? She lost a lot of time on the Valley road between the climbs, had she attacked early on Alpe d'Huez could she have got enough time?

 

[awavey]

Also, was Vollering right to attack so early? She lost a lot of time on the Valley road between the climbs, had she attacked early on Alpe d'Huez could she have got enough time?

I think so, because you have to take the iniative on a stage like this in the position she was in, and let the rest come at you, and they easily lost more than 4 secs playing around on the final climb or not pacing smoothly because Rooijakkers wasnt working together with Demi in a way that helped Demi at that stage.

 

[Andy262]

And another thing. Listening to the Discovery commentary as they were descending from the Glandon, as one of the Dani’s kept saying ‘they’ll work together and Rooijakkers can win the stage’ and I was literally screaming at the TV…..

If she wins the stage she wins the GC you utter dimwit!

 

[sam6]

And another thing. Listening to the Discovery commentary as they were descending from the Glandon, as one of the Dani’s kept saying ‘they’ll work together and Rooijakkers can win the stage’ and I was literally screaming at the TV…..

If she wins the stage she wins the GC you utter dimwit!

Yeah Rooijakkers was for sure right to sit on her wheel as that was her best chance of winning. Vollering should have just totally ignored her until if and when she was safely ahead of Niewiadoma

 

[awavey]

Yeah Rooijakkers was for sure right to sit on her wheel as that was her best chance of winning. Vollering should have just totally ignored her until if and when she was safely ahead of Niewiadoma

she might not have felt she was able to do it alone, I think her back was causing her more issues than theyve let on.

 

[jaylew]

and if Wiebes stops and then goes all in to lead Demi back to the pack, she easily makes up 5 secs and more. Thats where the race is lost, not the reaction to the crash.

Sure about Wiebes but it was 4 seconds so there are several places the race could have been lost and not getting on the bike quicker was one that was actually under her control rather than someone else's. She even mentioned it herself.

“If I would jump on the bike a little bit earlier [after crashing]. If I would win in Liège from Puck [Pieterse]. If yesterday I attacked a bit earlier. There are so many ifs but you don’t buy anything from ifs so I can think very long about that but it only makes me sad,”

 

[Andre]

I have started paying more and more attention to women's cycling. Little by little I have been, I've been drawn in. I don't know many of the cyclists. Have Van der Breggen and Van Vleuten retired? Where was Kopecki and the Italian, I think her name is Bohrgini ? Holland has so many top riders, they must have a very good training program. I feel sorry for Vollering but I'm happy Kasia won; she has such a great demeanor and a glorious smile. Watching this stage brought me back to the days when male cyclists were more human and would suffer more for a stage win. I know that sounds a little silly but I can't quite describe it. Those girls put in a fantastic effort. I was glued to the tv and could not even switch over to La Vuelta. Now I don't have to watch Pogascar if I have a choice.

 

[Andre]

concerning the crash by Vollering on stage 5... I think she got back on the bike and riding again pretty quickly. It was a hard crash and she landed very hard on the road. It was amazing she didn't stay down longer. I give her credit for toughness.

 

[Oldermanish]

Wait. what was she supposed to do?

Consequences for Wiebes and SD in charge for sure but you can't expect competitors to somehwo wait and lose time tehmselves in a hectic final.

Seems to happen regularly in the Men's TdF and other GTs. A principal rider of any responsible team just slows down. A few opportunists may try to take advantage but the pack backlash for the rest of the race would equalize it.

Can you imagine what would have happened had Kasia decided to stop before the Alpe line, put a foot down and wait until she knew the seconds had elapsed for Demi's GC advantage, rolled up to Vollering and shook her hand? Total Hollywood fantasy and she'd be remembered as the greatest sportsperson of all time.

 

[lightclimber]

And this race could be decided by 15 or 20 seconds in the end.

Last year in the Vuelta Vollering lost 1min4sec in the crosswinds, partly due to her team's incompetence and failing to form a proper chase behind. She then lost the race overall by 9 seconds. They could have easily found those seconds had her team worked hard to limit her losses. I suspect they will have similar regrets again this year

No-one from SD Worx heard the crash!

The biggest betrayal of Vollering occurred at the 2023 Tour De Suisse. Comfortably ahead in GC, they finish the final climb and Vollering is ensconced in the small GC group with a mainly descent last 20kms. Reusser comes back on the descent and instead of pacing the group to protect Vollering's GC, but no, she attacks the group, so the GC group sit up because they have nothing to gain, and Reusser ends up winning the GC>

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.

 

[Oldermanish]

Blast off earlier on Glandon tbh, then don't wait for Rooijakkers on descent.

That's usually a headwind to Bourg d'Oisans. Any male Tour stage leader that's tried it without a strong group has failed.

 

[lightclimber]

The best way for The World to stick it to SD Worx is for a non-SD Worx rider win the overall this year and then Vollering win next year with her new team.

100% Agree!

 

[Oldermanish]

To be fair though, they need to just be more consistent and better protected. Pauliena Rooijakkers hangs off the back of the péloton and can't descend, and she just finished 4th in the Giro d'Italia and 3rd in the Tour de France.

Career defining for Vollering? Or career defining for Wiebes? I think her celebrating too soon and losing Amstel Gold after SD Worx somehow got Vollering and Kopecky to both slave their guts out for her ungrateful hide in a race that better suited them was her defining moment. That Gunnewijk had Vollering working for Wiebes in Paris only for this fiasco to unfold a couple of weeks later is just putting the boot in.

For added insult to injury, she didn't even win the maillot vert to even give a modicum of justification for her actions.

Career defining for the lack of support and apparent willingness to sabotage a potential internal threat. 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?

 

[awavey]

Sure about Wiebes but it was 4 seconds so there are several places the race could have been lost and not getting on the bike quicker was one that was actually under her control rather than someone else's. She even mentioned it herself.

“If I would jump on the bike a little bit earlier [after crashing]. If I would win in Liège from Puck [Pieterse]. If yesterday I attacked a bit earlier. There are so many ifs but you don’t buy anything from ifs so I can think very long about that but it only makes me sad,”

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.

 

[sam6]

Tbf to Wiebes, she is probably the greatest pure sprinter of all time and she's only 25. She's also the first woman to ever win a stage of the Tour. That's what she should be known for. But unfortunately for her, she will be remembered in most peoples eyes for losing the tdf for a different rider which is hilarious. Tbh going to SD Worx was a bad move for her, she should be at a team where she can just rack up her sprint wins, be the sole team leader and not worry about anything else. Is all this finishing 2nd/3rd behind teammates in big classics really better for her?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Career defining for the lack of support and apparent willingness to sabotage a potential internal threat. 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?

Of course. I think Lorena has behaved like this since back to the Parkhotel days. The way she screwed that team over to jump to DSM after having already signed a contract, and then screwed THEM over to jump to SD Worx after having already signed a contract, and insisted on a clause in the contract enabling her to break it for more money. The way she causes a lot of crashes by recklessly divebombing corners or bullying her way into position. The way she took care to block as much of the Koppenberg as possible when forced to dismount.

If she wasn't as talented as she is, she'd probably be one of those guys or girls you mention, but she's fortunate that she's as good as she is that means that her cut-throad follow-the-money approach works because there's always going to be somebody who offers her the money for the wins she will get. However, doing it on this big a scale and it winding up as important as it has done, and being so unapologetic and coming across like the least sympathetic character in the sport since Peter van den Driessche, will likely have some consequences. This particular incident will likely result in some lasting reputational damage, and it's both deserved and not before time.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Can you imagine what would have happened had Kasia decided to stop before the Alpe line, put a foot down and wait until she knew the seconds had elapsed for Demi's GC advantage, rolled up to Vollering and shook her hand? Total Hollywood fantasy and she'd be remembered as the greatest sportsperson of all time.

Fortunately, Kasia's not that stupid.

 

[awavey]

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.

yep I didnt want to say, I was right, as it draws me no pleasure but I knew those lost seconds would be so vital to the final outcome.

oh well at least she wont have to ride for them anymore, as I think that will be her last race for them.

 

[awavey]

Of course. I think Lorena has behaved like this since back to the Parkhotel days. The way she screwed that team over to jump to DSM after having already signed a contract, and then screwed THEM over to jump to SD Worx after having already signed a contract, and insisted on a clause in the contract enabling her to break it for more money. The way she causes a lot of crashes by recklessly divebombing corners or bullying her way into position. The way she took care to block as much of the Koppenberg as possible when forced to dismount.

If she wasn't as talented as she is, she'd probably be one of those guys or girls you mention, but she's fortunate that she's as good as she is that means that her cut-throad follow-the-money approach works because there's always going to be somebody who offers her the money for the wins she will get. However, doing it on this big a scale and it winding up as important as it has done, and being so unapologetic and coming across like the least sympathetic character in the sport since Peter van den Driessche, will likely have some consequences. This particular incident will likely result in some lasting reputational damage, and it's both deserved and not before time.

but as you say teams will pay the money if she can still win stages, so what do they or her care if she is a wrecking ball at the same time.

I mean obviously she was a fairly big part of the disfunctionality of SD Worx in this race, but shes not the whole story behind how theyve managed to turn into Team doesnt worx.

 

[joe_papp]

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!

 

[Escarabajo]

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.

 

[Escarabajo]

Tbf to Wiebes, she is probably the greatest pure sprinter of all time and she's only 25. She's also the first woman to ever win a stage of the Tour. That's what she should be known for. But unfortunately for her, she will be remembered in most peoples eyes for losing the tdf for a different rider which is hilarious. Tbh going to SD Worx was a bad move for her, she should be at a team where she can just rack up her sprint wins, be the sole team leader and not worry about anything else. Is all this finishing 2nd/3rd behind teammates in big classics really better for her?

Really, I didn't know that. And yes, she will be remembered for that stupid move. Just because it is beyond stupid.