Tour de France Femmes 2025 (July 26th- August 3rd)

[Tim Cahill]

“When I talked about a lack of respect, I wasn’t just referring to the crash. It’s been like that since the start of the season. It’s not the first time Van Emden talks like this. For him, it’s all a game. I think he’s a stupid man.”

"For me, he is foolish and only thinks about himself"

Great to see Stephen Delcourt not holding back at all. Hopefully things get even more heated.

 

[Netserk]

I'd be more concerned about the lack of respectworthiness.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

“When I talked about a lack of respect, I wasn’t just referring to the crash. It’s been like that since the start of the season. It’s not the first time Van Emden talks like this. For him, it’s all a game. I think he’s a stupid man.”

"For me, he is foolish and only thinks about himself"

Great to see Stephen Delcourt not holding back at all. Hopefully things get even more heated.

We also have to get Danny Stam, Esra Tromp/Jonathan Vaughters, Ronny Lauke and Sebastian Unzué involved in this. Patrick Lefevere will probably also have something to say. Not necessarily about this though.

 

[theyoungest]

“When I talked about a lack of respect, I wasn’t just referring to the crash. It’s been like that since the start of the season. It’s not the first time Van Emden talks like this. For him, it’s all a game. I think he’s a stupid man.”

"For me, he is foolish and only thinks about himself"

Great to see Stephen Delcourt not holding back at all. Hopefully things get even more heated.

Mr. Delcourt may not like Van Emden, but the guy is far from stupid. The women needed an advocate within the Visma setup and Van Emden is the perfect guy for that. He isn't afraid to criticize anyone, including his own team and his own boss, which he has done repeatedly in the past.

I'm sure that his criticism of Vollering reflects a sentiment that exists among his riders. Marianne Vos said something similar but, in her always gentle and diplomatic way, chose slightly different words.

 

[Gilberto_Simoni]

The only HCs Le Court has ever climbed were Blockhaus and Alpe D'Huez. More than 15 minutes lost in each. She's become better this year, no doubt, but I don't expect her to climb with the best in la Madeleine or Joux Plane. Gigante has to run free. Release the kraken!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The only HCs Le Court has ever climbed were Blockhaus and Alpe D'Huez. More than 15 minutes lost in each. She's become better this year, no doubt, but I don't expect her to climb with the best in la Madeleine or Joux Plane. Gigante has to run free. Release the kraken!

That's HC finishes of course. She had to have climbed Glandon to have the chance to climb Alpe d'Huez, and arguably the earlier climb of Passo Lanciano without the extension to Blockhaus should also count, 12,5km @ 8,3% is borderline cat.1/HC and close to Alpe d'Huez in difficulty.

I know that the Madeleine stage is not Unipuerto, but it is 'functionally' Unipuerto, with the final climb far detached from the earlier ascents, so I think the truth will lie somewhere in the middle. The climb is far harder than the one she did well on in the UAE, and that was a true hockey stick profile, but the difficulties of those two tappones, especially the Glandon-Alpe d'Huez one where Vollering and Rooijakkers had already long since sent almost the whole field out the back when they got to the summit of Glandon, are well above that of the Madeleine stage and, unlike those stages, I would expect to see pretty much the whole GC field arrive at the base of the Col de la Madeleine together so it will be all down to how much is won and lost on that single ascent.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

The first mountainous day is upon us. It's not the hardest stage in the race, but with over 2000m of total elevation gain it's very likely we'll see some riders lose a lot of time and others that start to flourish.

While it's only the second half of Col du Béal which is categorised, it's not completely flat for the first 12 km. The descent afterwards is around 7 km at 6.5% avg.

Next up is the last 6-ish km of Col du Chansert, which is followed by a 9 km descent at 6.5%.

This leads into the final climb to the bonus sprint, which is the 6 km stretch between La Forie and Valcivières on the profile below.

After a 5 km plateau, only the descent to the finish in Ambert remains.

This parcours screams for a Cédrine Kerbaol descent attack (possibly more than one), and since she's already over a minute down it can't be ruled out that she'll succeed.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Nice stage. The last 4 stages look very good. I wonder how much damage these climbs will do in a women's peloton seeing that a very minor climb like yesterday was enough to to make the big riders come out and play.

 

[yaco]

The first mountainous day is upon us. It's not the hardest stage in the race, but with over 2000m of total elevation gain it's very likely we'll see some riders lose a lot of time and others that start to flourish.

While it's only the second half of Col du Béal which is categorised, it's not completely flat for the first 12 km. The descent afterwards is around 7 km at 6.5% avg.

Next up is the last 6-ish km of Col du Chansert, which is followed by a 9 km descent at 6.5%.

This leads into the final climb to the bonus sprint, which is the 6 km stretch between La Forie and Valcivières on the profile below.

After a 5 km plateau, only the descent to the finish in Ambert remains.

This parcours screams for a Cédrine Kerbaol descent attack (possibly more than one), and since she's already over a minute down it can't be ruled out that she'll succeed.

Is kerbaol elite as a descender? This is all based off one descent from the 2024 TDF in which I question the company in that break.

 

[Red Rick]

Having a feeling it's just gonna be just not steep enough again. I really like the idea of this stage, but it's still 5.5% cresting at 30km to go, even if you may think 5.5% for the women goes at speeds the men do at maybe 6.5-7%.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Is kerbaol elite as a descender? This is all based off one descent from the 2024 TDF in which I question the company in that break.

Too small a sample size - and from memory was an accident waiting to happen - she didn't look smooth and controlled......

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Is kerbaol elite as a descender? This is all based off one descent from the 2024 TDF in which I question the company in that break.

It is also based on her one-day victories in 2024 and her attacking pretty much everytime the road went downhill in the Vuelta this year. She might not be much better than the rest, but since she's not afraid to go full gas the others will always have to keep an eye on her.

 

[Didinho]

I feel that these longer climbs in the women peloton is more about the form/legs. Like with Kopecky in yellow she was also strong before the mountains. Pieterse last year only cracked on the final ascent or so. They also didn’t know their limits and I think the way Le Court is riding, she could be in the mix for it.

Would be nice to have a new GC rider on the rise. I think a lot of cycling fans are rooting for her.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Now we've got a big group up the road, but the gap is being kept at around 45 seconds at the moment.

 

[Didinho]

Waiting for the long climb. Stumbled upon this.

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

View: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMuQdGCS99h/?igsh=MWgxYTF2aWZ4MXMxZg==

 

[Samu Cuenca]

The gap is now at around a minute, but nearly half of the break has also been dropped. Although Chabbey isn't the best climber in that group they still can't afford to give them loads of time.

 

[yaco]

I am surprised the peleton is not giving the break more rope.

 

[RedheadDane]

What to do if you don't know whether to wear your yellow cap, your green cap, or your polka dot cap.
Just wear 'em all!

 

[RedheadDane]

Well... that was a useful angle to film the QOM sprint from...

 

[yaco]

And still Chabbey will not drop back from the break. I don't understand her tactics as the peleton will chase her down.

 

[dgodave]

Mad descending.

 

[JR1012]

Good attack by Squiban. 1 min gap.

 

[yaco]

I do not understand the tactics of A.G Insurance. They should let others pace.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

Squiban has this I think. Gap not going down, almost going up a bit. No one in the group of favorites really commited and after the bonus sprint they're all going to look at each other at the plateau. And afterwards she'll only have the descent left.

 

[Sciatic]

Squiban has this I think. Gap not going down, almost going up a bit. No one in the group of favorites really commited and after the bonus sprint they're all going to look at each other at the plateau. And afterwards she'll only have the descent left.

FDG aren't really "pulling" they're just making it look like they are.