With Vos and clearly defined roles, Visma goes all-in on victory with Ferrand-Prévot: Tour de France Femmes line-up revealed

Visma | Lease a Bike announced its line-up for the Tour de France Femmes on Wednesday afternoon. There can be no uncertainty about the team’s main objective: the Dutch squad is going all-in on defending the title with leader Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. The other riders will be there to support her, although opportunities of their own will also arise...

As had already been known for some time, the Dutch team will bring defending champion Ferrand-Prévot to the race. “Starting the Tour as defending champion is very special and something I am incredibly proud of. At the same time, last year’s victory says nothing about what will happen this time. Everyone starts from zero again,” the Frenchwoman said in a preview on her team’s website.

Ferrand-Prévot believes her preparations for the Tour have gone well. “We have trained incredibly hard, but we have also laughed a lot. It is great to see how motivated everyone is. That gives me a lot of confidence and energy heading into the Tour. I am looking forward to pursuing our goals together,” she said.

She added: “I have done everything possible to arrive at the start in the best possible shape. Together with the team, we prepared carefully, and I received a great deal of support from everyone around me. Now it is a matter of trusting that preparation and being ready when the Tour begins in Lausanne.”

Team manager Rutger Tijssen looked ahead to what awaits the riders. “It is going to be a very tough Tour, especially in combination with the heat. The route has everything: a time trial, several punchy stages, a stage reminiscent of Liège-Bastogne-Liège and a finish on Mont Ventoux.”

Where will the Tour be decided? “I would not immediately say that the stage to Ventoux will decide everything, but logically, we expect major gaps to be created there. There are still more climbs in this Tour, but they will probably be less decisive because they come earlier in the stages.”

Visma will therefore travel to the race with clearly defined roles. “Our plan is entirely geared towards achieving a strong general classification result with Pauline. Of course, she cannot do that alone; we desperately need the other six riders for that. Everyone has a specific role,” Tijssen explained.

The team manager elaborated: “Femke [de Vries] will be her final support rider in the mountains, with Sarah [Van Dam] positioned just ahead of her. Marianne [Vos] will serve as road captain, while Lieke [Nooijen] and Daniek [Hengeveld] will focus primarily on positioning. Marion [Bunel] will try to support Pauline for as long as possible in the high mountains.” That completes Visma | Lease a Bike’s seven-rider line-up.

The six support riders have been selected to help Ferrand-Prévot across every type of terrain. “That does not change the fact that opportunities will also arise for the other riders. When you are riding at the front, you are in contention for the victory. That also happened on the first stage last year, when Marianne won and Pauline finished third.”

The team will therefore also keep an eye on stage victories. “Of course, we are targeting stage wins this year, but the general classification is our overriding priority.” Ferrand-Prévot is well prepared for that objective. “Since the Vuelta, she has devoted a lot of attention to becoming race-ready. With the help of several specialists, we have also worked on time trialling.”

“Now we have to see how that translates on race day. A time trial is always different from training or a simulation, but we have confidence in the preparation and cannot wait to get started,” Tijssen concluded.