Bonjour! Thank you for reading this week’s Wheel Talk Newsletter. The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is done, and the post-Olympics/post-Tour sulk has begun. A month of female athletes inspiring others has ended. Of course, in just eight days the Paralympics will have their time to shine in Paris with a whole new cast of characters to cheer on or fall in love with. The summer isn’t over yet, folks!
Wheel Talk
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On Sunday we witnessed one of the best finales to a stage race…ever. When the stage ended it took everyone standing at the finish line a moment to realize what had happened. Kasia Niewiadoma has many fans inside the sport: Staff from rival teams, journalists, competitors. The vast majority of people standing just beyond the start line were cheering for her. They were cheering for Vollering as well, and there was a bittersweet tinge to Niewiadoma’s victory, but after so many years of coming close, to winning the Tour and in the style in which she did it. Through her determination, growth as an athlete, and pure grit, it was a better story than the Tour could have dreamt up.
It’s no secret that I am a big fan of Niewiadoma … Kasia, may I call her Kasia? Off the bike, she is one of my favourite people to chat with about life, love and so much more. As a journalist, I try not to show too much favouritism towards the riders. But you need to remember, that above all I am a fan of the sport. I may be writing (hopefully) objective analyses, but at the end of the day, I am just a nerd who loves this circus that is women’s cycling.
At times I have been critical of Canyon-SRAM, and even of Kasia. But even when she attacks at the wrong moment, opens her sprint too early, or uses too much energy I still love to watch her race, even when she loses. it makes the wins all the sweeter.
When Kasia won on Sunday it took me a full five minutes of standing there, staring at the screen, trying to come to terms with what was happening before I could react. You will be shocked to know that I did not cry … at least not until she saw me and asked me what had just happened (rhetorically, she’d already been celebrating with her team at the finish line). “You won the Tour de France,” was my response. What else could I say? Other than telling her she’s my hero.
Kasia’s win is one for the history books, and not because of the margin. Four seconds can apparently change the tilt of the earth, but that’s not why this win is so meaningful. Kasia is a rider who has put everything she has into this sport and so many times walked away empty-handed. Year after year she never gave up, she never let it keep her down. Young athletes can learn a lot from Kasia and her career, the promise she showed at a young age, her “off” years, and how she came back stronger than ever at a time when the sport is rapidly evolving.
No, I still have not fully processed that Kasia won the Tour de France. I don’t know if I ever will. Not because I didn’t think she could; of course I did. But because the odds were against her. It’s not an underdog story, per se, but it’s something in the realm.
Everyone can learn something from Kasia. I believe I wrote after she won La Fleche Wallonne that we would see a lot more victories from her this season. If this is the only one, it’s worth at least 10, and if she doesn’t win again this season I can’t wait for 2025.
Racing continues…
At Classic Lorient Agglomération!
The Basics:
When: Saturday, August 24th
Live coverage: 🇺🇸 MAX, 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 Eurosport/Discovery+ 🇳🇿 SBS, 🇨🇦 FloBikes
Summary: A hilly one-day race that favours the most daring, or the fastest sprinter who can stay in the bunch.
The Route
Classic Lorient Agglomération is a long-standing fixture in the women’s calendar, often used as a tune-up event before the World Championships. There are some hills and a fast circuit the women complete 2.5 times, but the race has still ended in a reduced bunch sprint before. Formerly known as GP de Plouay, this is a favourite among new riders and veterans alike.
The finish features a circuit but the initial 125-ish km is out in the countryside of Bretagne (Brittany to us anglophones). The first classified climb isn’t until kilometre 80, but those early kilometres aren’t flat. The road is constantly rolling up and down, which will tire out the legs somewhat before the riders even get to the circuit.
Once on the circuits, the race is on. Every lap up the two climbs will shed some riders out the back of the peloton and allow attacks to try their hand. Neither of the climbs is long – the first 1 km and the second 800 meters – but they are followed by fast narrow roads that make it difficult to chase. The first climb tops out and it’s a long pedalling flat that winds around farm roads before a technical, steep descent in the forests. That one can be tricky if the roads are wet.
The second climb is pretty close to the finish, so there are always attacks on it. Once the riders crest the second ascent it’s a 4.5 km descent to the finish.
The finish is flat and fast, really fast, since it’s fresh off the final descent. It has a lot to do with positioning and timing of sprint since the riders will be coming at it with speed.
The Contenders
For a few years, during the pandemic, the course was only on the circuit, it was fantastic. But we’re back to the long start to the race, which will make the race more open. Last year, Mischa Bredewold took it in a reduced bunch sprint, one of her first big wins before she went on to take the European championships.
Bredewold returns to the race this year fresh off the back of being super domestique for Demi Vollering at the Tour de France Femmes. SD Worx-Protime are bringing mostly their younger riders to be captained by Chantal van den Broek-Blaak.
Tour stage winner Cédrine Kerbaol will be a welcome figure at the race. First French stage winner at this version of the Tour, and a wicked fast descender, she’s an outside favourite for a stage win. Especially if the weather is sour.
A few of the track riders will return to the road post-Olympics, like Letizia Paternoster. The Liv AlUla Jayco rider had an amazing early season and has a fantastic sprint. She’s another outside favourite depending on how the race goes.
For DSM Firmenich-PostNL Megan Jastrab is a rider to watch. She’s had a rough season with injury and bad luck but returns to racing this weekend. She’s a wicked fast sprinter, even more so when it’s an unconventional sprint. She’s won elite races with junior gearing before so the downhill before the line is actually great for her.
Chloe Dygert would also be a really good shout for this one. She’s got a fast sprint, but she could also try to get away solo if she felt like it. She’s got big goals coming up at the Worlds, where she wants to keep that rainbow ITT jersey, so she won’t want to mess around in the pack. The best way to not ride in the bunch is to hit out on your own.
The initial start list has Elisa Longo Borghini named for Lidl-Trek. After missing out on the Tour due to a training crash she will be keen to get back into it, especially before Worlds. Plus, it will just be really good to see her back in the peloton.
Other favourites: Kristen Faulkner (EF-Oatly-Cannondale), Arlenis Sierra (Movistar), Liane Lippert (Movistar), Carina Schrempf (Fenix-Deceuninck)
Contenders are based on an early start list, subject to change. Please check the startlist on FirstCycling closer to the race for more details.
Wheel Talk Podcast
After a week of daily podcasts from the Tour de France Femmes, the Wheel Talk Podcast is taking a break this week. If you missed any of the Tour Femmes Daily episodes, check them out! They were super fun. Loren, Tilda and I had a blast covering the race and as always we had some fantastic audio diarists all week.
We will be back next week with Gracie Elvin to talk about anything we missed at the Tour, Classic Lorient Agglomération, and hopefully some long-awaited transfer announcements… 👀
Let’s Discuss
The crowds at the Tour.
This was my second Tour de France Femmes, so I can’t compare the first to the third but I can say that the number of people who came to this Tour was overwhelming. We knew before the race that the first few stages in Rotterdam were going to be mad, but the assumption was once we got into France the crowds would thin.
There were always fans and spectators who showed up to the starts last year, for example, but it wasn’t so many people that you couldn’t move around. And with the Tour later in the summer, some were worried the race would clash with the end of summer vacations and no one would come.
No one needed to worry. After we left Rotterdam Liège was just as insane, which makes sense. Then the start in Bastogne was also wild, also makes sense: Belgium. The finishes in both Amnéville and Morteau were packed. Like, can’t move in any which way packed. Especially Morteau, which brought up the question of finishing in such a small town. Last year we had a few very small town starts and finishes, and it became apparent this year that the ASO will have to spring for bigger towns in future years.
On both Le Grand-Bornard and Alpe d’Huez the crowds weren’t as big as people hoped on the actual climbs. Alpe d’Huez was perhaps the more disappointing for those hoping to see a scene similar to the men’s, with people lining the roads all the way up the climb, but at both finishes the fans turned up. There was no lack of support for the women.
I think the important thing here is perspective. I mentioned in my Scenes from the Alpe piece that while the amount of people at the starts and finishes, and on Alpe d’Huez, doesn’t rival the men’s event yet there are still more people at the Tour de France Femmes than any other stand-alone women’s event on the calendar, and the comparison isn’t even close. This is by a mile the most attended event for the women. The Giro d’Italia Women could only dream of having the number of people at even the least attended stage, and it’s one of the longest-running races for the women.
It’s important to remember that this is only the beginning. This was only the third edition of the Tour, and it was clear being on the ground that the race has already made an impact. There are already more and more people turning up to the race, and next year even more will show up (plus it will be in July, which helps). Was there a disappointing number of people on Alpe d’Huez? On the actual climb, maybe. But only if you compare it to the men’s, which in my opinion we shouldn’t do. We should compare it to last year’s Tour, or other women’s events. If we look at it through that lens it was a huge success. Comparing it to the men’s event is a dangerous game. We want to stand out and stand on our own.
The real question now is, how do we get more people to come see other women’s races in these numbers?
One last thing about numbers. We won’t have viewer figures quite yet, but I am pretty confident that they will be higher than last year. The ASO is doing an incredible job with the women’s Tour, and you can’t fault them lack of crowds on the lower slopes of a climb on a Sunday at the end of the summer holidays, but one thing that does need improving is the amount of live coverage we are getting.
The first few stages we were treated to start to finish live coverage, but for the rest of the week we had to be content with only a few hours. In multiple stages we missed vital moves and action that would have helped to understand the outcome of the stage.
What we need next year is start to finish coverage of ALL Tour stages. The more coverage we have, the more people will see how great the race is, the more people will travel to the roadside to catch it live and in person. Everyone wins.
A picture worth a couple of words
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift is currently performing at Wembley to wrap up the European leg of her Eras Tour. For the first night, she brought out her long-time friend Ed Sheeran to perform a mix of songs they have collaborated on: End Game and Everything Has Changed plus his big hit Thinking Out Loud. When I tell you I simply would have … dead. RIP me.
There’s no telling what she has up her colourful and puffy sleeves for the other shows, but she has one show left tonight and you can never trust that woman not to send her fans into a tailspin.
Until next time!
One last thing before we wrap this up.
The silliest season has begun. Before the Tour we got a few transfer announcements, the biggest of them was Juliette Labous to FDJ-Suez. But now that the race is behind us the big news will start to come out. Already on Tuesday Lidl-Trek announced the signing of Riejanne Markus through 2027. A massive transfer. Markus is a budding GC rider, incredible time trialist and will be a great addition to the American team.
That is it for me. Thank you not only for reading this newsletter and also for supporting Wheel Talk and our written work on Escape Collective throughout the Tour. It’s been a dream!
Did we do a good job with this story?