Now that the route for the 2024 Excursion de France Femmes has been introduced, with the Alpe d’Huez as its crowning climb, the time has come to inspect which riders are prone to upward thrust to the highest on this 3rd version of the race, which takes position from August 12-18.
The primary 4 levels and 3 days of the 946km race play out within the Netherlands and Belgium, with the flat terrain taking part in to the sprinters’ fingers for the primary two, then a short while trial that would begin to pull out some gaps within the total ahead of the race heads into the undulating terrain for level 4 and level 5, the place it after all reaches France. Then the labeled climbs will begin to make their presence felt on level 6, however this is a downhill run to the end at Morteau. Regardless that after that, there is not any reprieve, with level 7 completing atop Le Grand-Bornand and level 8 at the iconic climb of Alpe d’Huez.
With only a few time trial kilometres, 6.3 to be actual, and two climb-heavy summit-finish levels to give you the finale, there is not any doubt it’s the riders who thrive at the lengthy steep slopes that shall be in top place because the 3rd version of the Excursion de France Femmes heads against the Alps for the primary time.
Specifically after her tough efficiency at the Col du Tourmalet in 2023, protecting champion Demi Vollering (SD Worx) has to stay firmly on the best of the favourites checklist. Nonetheless, given there is not any concluding time trial this yr the place the tough time trialist can claw again any missteps within the mountains there may be alternative for challengers to show up the drive cooker on the ones ultimate two brutal days.
The route has set the scene for a construct towards a thrilling however unpredictable finale so it is time to take a more in-depth take a look at the riders which can be prone to be the megastar avid gamers because the drama unfolds.
Cyclingnews may have are living protection of all 8 levels of the 2024 Excursion de France Femmes avec Zwift, along side race reviews, galleries, effects, and unique options and information.
- Crew: SD Worx
- Age: 26
- Excursion de France effects: 1st total in 2023, 1x level win in 2023, 2d total in 2022, mountain classification in 2022
Demi Vollering traces up because the protecting champion on the 2024 Excursion de France Femmes after appearing her energy and consistency around the early levels of ultimate yr’s match, dominating the decisive Col du Tourmalet after which completing 2d within the final time trial to win the whole identify.
She is subsidized through the arena’s no. 1 workforce SD Worx, which supported her highest season thus far with victories at Strade Bianche, Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Vuelta a Burgos and Excursion de Romandie. Whilst in 2024 she won’t have Lotte Kopecky, who stood along her at the 2023 Excursion de France Femmes total podium, the workforce has an excellent array of mountain climbing skill to behave as back-up, together with the growing younger riders of Anna Shackley and Niamh Fisher-Black.
The Dutch rider additionally confirmed her talents within the prime mountains and lengthy completing ascents, specifically with wins atop Lagos de Covadonga and Mirador de Peñas Llanas at L. a. Vuelta Femenina, Lagunas de Neila at Vuelta a Burgos, Col du Tourmalet on the Excursion de France Femmes, and at Torgon on the Excursion de Romandie.
She shall be embarking on her 6th season of racing, her fourth at the Girls’s WorldTour, and has grown into one of the most global’s highest one-day racers, time triallists and normal classification contenders.
Vollering has now not showed her 2024 season goals, however it could be no wonder to look her victorious at L. a. Vuelta Femenina, Giro d’Italia Girls and Excursion de France Femmes, must she make a selection to focus on all 3 Grand Excursions.
At 26, Vollering is solely realising her greatest strengths and we will look ahead to her to steer the Dutch dominance of ladies’s world-class motorcycle racing for some other decade.
- Crew: Canyon-SRAM
- Age: 29
- Excursion de France effects: third in 2023, mountains classification in 2023, third total in 2022
Kasia Niewiadoma has two times completed 3rd total at the podium on the Excursion de France Femmes, and whilst each had been hard-fought achievements, it used to be the 2023 version that actually confirmed her growth as a normal classification contender.
In 2022, Niewiadoma said that she spent a lot of her low season coaching strengthening her talents within the lengthy, prime mountains, whilst in 2023, it used to be her time trial energy that she tapped into.
She additionally took extra dangers, none extra obvious than her assault at the Col d’Aspin descent in a brave bid for victory atop the Col du Tourmalet. She completed 2d, best to Demi Vollering, after which used her well-trained energy within the final time trial to complete 9th. Even supposing Lotte Kopecky jumped forward of her within the total classification at the ultimate day, she completed 3rd total, maintaining off the former yr’s winner Annemiek van Vleuten in fourth.
Her constant finishes over the mountain passes throughout the Excursion de France Femmes additionally supposed that she took house the mountain classification’s polka-dot jersey.
Niewiadoma is without doubt one of the maximum constant athletes a number of the ladies’s peloton, regularly completing a number of the best 3 and best 5 on the greatest races throughout one-day races and level races. On the other hand, she often gave the impression to be edged out for the victory. Her ultimate giant street race win used to be at Amstel Gold Race and a level on the Girls’s Excursion in 2019.
In a impressive flip of occasions q4, Niewiadoma powered to victory on the UCI Gravel International Championships, claiming the arena identify and donning the rainbow jersey in Veneto. It used to be ‘a victory that repays a complete season‘ she mentioned
- Crew: Lidl-Trek
- Age: 31
- Excursion de France effects: DNF 2023, sixth total in 2022
Elisa Longo Borghini’s all-in method to racing regularly makes her a favorite for any one-day race or level race right through the season. Likewise, her consistency within the time trials and on lengthy mountain passes additionally makes her one of the most highest normal classification riders on the planet.
In her first Excursion de France Femmes in 2022, Longo Borghini completed within the best 10 in six of the 8 levels, and used to be one of the most match’s megastar protagonists. Difficult back-to-back mountain levels at Le Markstein and L. a. Planche des Belles Filles, which closed out the development, on the other hand, value her dearly within the total classification, as most of the highest climbers struggled on the prime tempo set through the whole champion that yr Annemiek van Vleuten. Consequently, Longo Borghini dropped from 4th to 6th total.
Her performances within the Grand Excursions may also be unpredictable, now and then, however she has regularly proven her greatest strengths on the Giro d’Italia Girls the place she completed 2d total in 2017 and 3rd total in 2020.
She used to be in nice shape this yr, sitting in 2d total as certainly one of Annemiek van Vleuten’s greatest challengers for the maglia rosa when she crashed on level 5 and used to be pressured to desert. She returned to pageant for the Excursion de France Femmes however used to be additionally pressured to abandon forward of level 7 because of a pores and skin an infection.
There are a few levels that glance well-suited to Longo Borghini’s puncheur-style, hilly mid-stages that come with level 4 from Valkenburg to Liège, level 6 from Remiremont to Morteau, and her skill to muscle over the largest climbs will stay her in competition on level 6 into Le Grand Bornand and on level 7 to the highest of Alpe d’Huez.
Longo Borghini did not get the risk to actually display her true doable within the two giant level races of the 2023 season, however she is going to certainly go back wholesome in 2024 and in a position to race at her highest.
- Crew: Crew dsm-firmenich
- Age: 24
- Excursion de France effects: 4th total in 2022, Fifth total in 2023
Juliette Labous has transform the French fan favorite at her house Excursion de France and a podium hopeful, as soon as once more, for the 2024 version.
She is a quiet contender, having slowly however incessantly risen to transform one of the most highest riders on the planet over the former seven seasons with the quite a lot of variations of workforce Sunweb, Crew DSM and now Crew dsm-firmenich.
The workforce helps Labous’ ambition to compete in her favorite Ardennes Classics whilst putting a big focal point at the Spain-based Girls’s WorldTour races Vuelta a Burgos, Itzulia Girls, and summer season level races Giro d’Italia Donne and Excursion de France Femmes with an end-of-season focal point at the International Championships.
Her secure growth has paid off, because the Frenchwoman has completed 4th on the Excursion de France Femmes in 2022 and Fifth in 2023. Whilst the ones effects are spectacular, it’s been the in-between performances the place we will in point of fact gauge her luck with the whole victory at Vuelta a Burgos in 2022, the summit level 7 victory atop Passo del Maniva on the Giro d’Italia Girls, and a telling 2d position total on the Giro in 2023.
She has made a mindful effort to support her energy at the climbs and within the time trial, which has made her a extra entire rider fitted to the longer level races.
Her trajectory within the ultimate two years has best simply begun to spike, and at 24 years outdated, she is each the existing and long term of French biking.
- Crew: AG Insurance coverage-Soudal-QuickStep
- Age: 37
- Excursion de France effects: sixth total in 2023
Deciding in opposition to retirement and switching groups from SD Worx to AG Insurance coverage-Soudal-QuickStep for the 2023 season used to be almost certainly one of the most highest choices Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio has made in her biking profession.
It sort of feels to have ignited a brand new bankruptcy for her that permits her to excel as an undisputed chief, make a choice primary season goals with complete workforce toughen, and enjoy the fun of luck, whilst additionally permitting her to offer again to the more youthful riders on a three-tiered building workforce.
Virtually once she signed her new contract, she received the Excursion de Romandie on the finish of 2022, then began the season with a victory at Setmana Valenciana, a victory at Durango-Durango, 3rd total at Vuelta a Burgos, and 2d total on the truncated CIC-Excursion Féminin World des Pyrénées.
On the Excursion de France Femmes, she in point of fact crammed the management position when she sat 3rd total from levels 2-4 and moved into 2d total from levels 5-6. She drifted all the way down to 5th at the summit of Col du Tourmalet on level 7 and ended a robust sixth total following the final time trial.
The 2024 Excursion de France Femmes may well be even higher for the South African all-rounder, who additionally excels within the Ardennes Classics. She’s going to unquestionably be eyeing level 4 from Valkenburg to Liège, and level 6 from Remiremont to Morteau, however her true strengths will shine in Le Grand Bornand and on Alpe d’Huez.
- Crew: FDJ SUEZ
- Age: 28
- Excursion de France effects: seventh total in 2023, seventh total in 2022, level win in 2022
One of the vital exciting moments of staring at Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig’s biking profession used to be her level 3 win at the steep completing slopes into Épernay on the 2022 Excursion de France Femmes.
The Danish champion patiently bided her time at the decrease slopes of the ascent, as others burned their suits too quickly. She then made her well-timed successful assault from 5 wheels again in a monstrous dash up the Mur de Huy-esque ultimate climb together with her head down. Because the fanatics cheered, handled to a impressive end, she handed Marianne Vos, Kasia Niewiadoma, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, and Elisa Longo Borghini to triumph in what used to be the largest win of her profession.
It used to be additionally one of the crucial dramatic moments of all the 2022 season.
Whilst Uttrupt Ludwig performed a lot more conservatively within the 2023 version, she ended with the similar total effects, 7th two years in a row, and on the 2024 Excursion de France Femmes most likely we will be able to see a mixture of the 2 racing types.
Uttrup Ludwig is a fan-favourite, now not just for her charismatic persona however for additionally placing on a display of sturdy, competitive racing. Glance no additional than her Fifth-place efficiency on the 2023 UCI International Championships, ultimately received through Lotte Kopecky, however the place she performed her playing cards all of the approach to the end line.
Out of doors of the Excursion de France, Uttrup Ludwig’s sixth total on the Giro d’Italia Girls in 2018, 4th in 2020, sixth in 2022 and sixth in 2023, imply that she has numerous enjoy competing in opposition to the most productive on the hardest levels races on the planet.
- Crew: FDJ SUEZ
- Age: 25
- Excursion de France effects: nineteenth total in 2023, DNF in 2022
On the first version of the Excursion de France Femmes in 2022 the good hopes for the rider who had simply taken the runner-up spot on the Giro d’Italia Donne got here crashing down on level 2. It took a while for Marta Cavalli to construct again up after that devastating coincidence however given her forged best 20 within the race for yellow this season, which then led into total victory on the Excursion Cycliste Féminin World de l’Ardèche, it seems the rider is operating her long ago towards that glowing type of the early part of 2022.
What is extra the route this yr is one who performs to the strengths of the 25 yr outdated. The shorter person time trial in 2024 works in her favour, with the Italian rider dropping greater than 4 mins over the 22.6km in Pau in 2023. This version she’ll face simply 6.3km of racing in opposition to the clock and the person time trial happening on the second one day in Rotterdam, when there could also be numerous time left to paintings up the whole scores.
The facility of the rider to stay tempo with probably the most highest climbers on the planet will dangle her in excellent stead for the an important duo of summit finishes, Le Grand Bornard and Alpe d’Huez, that come to a decision the race.
Working to her benefit, additionally, is the workforce Cavalli shall be surrounded through. Being French, FDJ-Suez will surely do no matter they may be able to to be at the entrance foot on the Excursion de France Femmes and they’ve some severe muscle on their roster to help their key riders on the ones summit end levels with riders like Évita Muzic and Grace Brown at the roster along doable workforce leaders Uttrup-Ludwig and Cavalli.
- Crew: Lidl-Trek
- Age: 22
- Excursion de France effects: But to debut
In 2023 Gaia Realini controlled to achieve the rostrum of each the Giro d’Italia Donne and L. a. Vuelta Feminina, and it sort of feels just a topic of time till the gifted younger climber will upload the Excursion de France Femmes to that checklist.
The rider who joined Lidl-Trek from Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria at first of this season has but to debut on the French race. Elisa Longo-Borghini has been a meriting chief for the squad within the race for yellow the ultimate two years, despite the fact that her 6th position total in 2022 became to a DNF in 2023 after a difficult run in. Specifically with the route , that is almost certainly an end result that can inspire a multi-option technique for the workforce in 2024.
The workforce has a variety of mountain climbing choices, with Amanda Spratt for one taking 10th total in 2023, however Realini turns out made for them. The Italian is some other a type of riders who shall be satisfied to look some significantly tricky mountain climbing days to complete the excursion and coffee time trial kilometres.
Her prowess on difficult summit used to be made all to transparent at first of the season when, in her first race together with her new workforce, she used to be instrumental in supporting Elisa Longo Borghini to victory at the Jebel Hafeet climb on the UAE Excursion, additionally taking 2d at the level with the tough effort. The sturdy effects endured in the course of the season, as on best of the Giro d’Italia Donne and L. a. Vuelta Feminina, there used to be some other 3rd position total on the Excursion de l’Avenir Femmes, plus Realini additionally made it ito the rostrum at L. a. Flèche Wallonne Femmes the Excursion de l’Avenir Femmes and received a level of L. a. Vuelta Feminina and the Trofeo Oro in Euro.
- Crew: Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi
- Age: 32
- Excursion de France effects: eighth total in 2023, sixtieth in 2022
Ane Santesteban stepped up as a key a part of the mountain climbing workforce when she joined Jayco-AlUla 3 years in the past and with the Australian workforce this season she stepped into the highest ten total at each the Giro d’Italia Donne and Excursion de France Femmes. What is extra the 8th position end within the race for yellow used to be delivered after an impressive efficiency on Col du Tourmalet, the place she got here 7th.
That highlighted her skill at the lengthy climbs, which can be taking centre level within the 2024 version. On the other hand, there may be some other part at play in 2024. Now not best does the route swimsuit her however after years of calling for a house workforce, she now has the risk to play a headlining position at Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi, the place she has signed for the following 3 years.
The Basque workforce did not race the Excursion de France Femmes in 2023, however they plan to step up the extent considerably in 2024, strengthening the finances and roster and making use of for a Girls’s WorldTour licence. There’s little, on the other hand, that would do extra to end up their arrival as an international category workforce than a robust appearing as the arena watches the fight for yellow spread on the Excursion de France Femmes.
- Crew: Canyon-SRAM
- Age: 23
- Excursion de France effects: ninth total in 2023, level win in 2023
It used to be one memorable debut on the Excursion de France Femmes in 2023, with a win on level 5 and a powerful 10th at the Col du Tourmalet. It used to be a efficiency that adopted on from a 5th total at L. a. Vuelta Femenina, plus the sturdy effects endured on via the rest of the season, with 7th total on the Excursion of Scandinavia and 6th on the Excursion de Romandie Féminin.
It’s an excellent construct via her first yr as a qualified, with the German rider temporarily leaping to note when Bauernfeind began out with the Canyon-SRAM building workforce in 2022 with podium spots on all 3 levels of the Vuelta Ciclista Andalucia Ruta Del Sol and total.
The fast stand up the ranks has delivered a robust 2d card for the WorldTour workforce, as whilst Niewiadoma is prone to take the brunt of the highlight in 2024 it will effectively transition over within the years forward.