Now into the fourth year of its current guise, the Women’s peloton returns to French roads once more for a Grand Départ in Vannes; before they take on one of the biggest weeks of racing on the calendar at the Tour de France Femmes.
Team Picnic PostNL made their mark on the race from the beginning in 2024, with two incredible back-to-back sprint stage wins and wearing the yellow jersey with Charlotte Kool. This year’s edition of the race offers up the opportunity for the puncheurs and climbers to battle it out for the first Maillot Jaune with a hill-top finish in Plumelec. Stage two could see a similar type of finale, while the following two days are more likely to give the fast women of the bunch a chance. From there the race heads to the climbs and mountains, with some challenging terrain and big mountain passes to contend with, although a few non-summit finishes might tempt the attackers throughout the remainder of the race. The penultimate stage finishes atop the brutally tough Col de la Madeleine before an up-and-down kind of stage on the final day could see GC action from distance depending on the standings at that point.
Coming into the race after a string of solid recent results, the Team Picnic PostNL squad will aim to once again be at the forefront of the race; hunting for those stage wins on a mix of terrain throughout the week.
Team Picnic PostNL coach Albert Timmer explained: “We head to the Tour de France with some incredible memories from last year’s edition of the race, where we won the opening two stages and wore the yellow jersey after some great teamwork. This year starts off with a punchy uphill finish, which sets the tone for the race. There are a few sprint opportunities where we will support Charlotte as our fast finisher with a strong and capable lead-out, where we will aim to put her in the best position to go for those top results. In the more rolling and classics-style stages we have several riders, such as Pfeiffer and Franziska, who we can be attacking with and look to play our cards as a team. Nienke will test herself against the very best in the world once the race gets to the more mountainous stages. We’re looking forward to showing our Team Picnic PostNL jersey at the head of the action of each day and with some good teamwork, I am confident we can be proud of our achievements come the end of the race.”
After her crash on the final day of Baloise Ladies Tour, and undergoing subsequent tests and training rides, which have gone in the right direction – Charlotte Kool is set to ride the Tour de France Femmes.
Line-up:
Francesca Barale
Rachele Barbieri
Pfeiffer Georgi
Megan Jastrab
Franziska Koch
Charlotte Kool
Nienke Vinke