Tour de France Femmes 2023 – Analysing the contenders
The course for the 2023 Tour de France Femmes has been revealed so now the attention turns to just which riders are likely to fare best in the eight-day race as it winds its way from the Massif Central, south to the Col du Tourmalet and onto a finishing time trial in Pau.
The 2022 event, which signalled the return of women’s Tour de France after decades of absence, was to an extent treading into unknown territory. The challenging mountainous stage race of the Giro d’Italia Donne may have long been on the calendar but a stage-race for yellow bought a whole different level of attention, prestige and – with that – pressure to perform. It became the clear focal point of so many top riders’ seasons and that intensity of competition isn’t likely to change one bit in the year ahead.
In 2023, the performances of 2022 are there to serve as a guide but of course the different a new season, team circumstances and course – particularly with the introduction of the lofty heights of the legendary Pyrenean climb of the Tourmalet as well as a time trial – will all have an influence.
It is early days, with the race still nearly nine months away, but it is time to take a first pass at just which riders could well be preparing for a serious pursuit of yellow in 2023 now that they know what awaits them on the road from Clermont-Ferrand to Pau from July 23 to 30.
Annemiek van Vleuten
Annemiek van Vleuten lived up to every expectation as the favourite for the 2022 Tour de France Femmes, winning the overall title after two remarkable back-to-back stages in the Vosges atop Le Markstein and La Super Planche des Belles Filles.
The new route of the 2023 Tour de France Femmes gives the impression that the race could be a more open affair, for other riders to contest the yellow jersey. The addition of a summit finish at Col du Tourmalet and an individual time trial, however, means that the final two stages will, once again, be well-suited to the defending champion.
It was a sparkling season for Van Vleuten, who also won the Giro d’ Italia Donne, Challenge by La Vuelta and the World Championships, and she will undoubtedly want to make the most of the final year ahead of a pending retirement at the end of 2023.
Van Vleuten will have a stronger Movistar team to support this target, with the likes of Sarah Gigante and Liane Lippert possibly starting this event, too. Movistar has shown that they support Van Vleuten’s decision to reduce the number of races during the year in order to focus on a selection of big targets, and that has paid off for both Van Vleuten and Movistar with big wins.
The route offers less opportunity for the sprinters, and more for the puncheurs, and so the race into the Pyrénées might be more open to a range of riders in the hunt for stage wins and the yellow jersey.
However, all Van Vleuten needs is one big climb to separate herself from the rest. Stage 7’s back-to-back ascents of the Col d’Aspin and Col du Tourmalet will be the deciding moment of the Tour de France Femmes – perfectly suited to Van Vleuten.
The race will end in a time trial, a discipline where she has won world titles on two occasions, making her the outright favourite for a second consecutive overall title at the Tour de France Femmes.
Demi Vollering
Demi Vollering was the closest rival to Annemiek van Vleuten on the ascents of Le Markstein and La Super Planche des Belles Filles in the 2022 Tour de France Femmes. On both ascents, she crossed the line and appeared bewildered by Van Vleuten’s strength, after all, she had trained harder than she ever had before in preparation for the race and surpassed all her previous power numbers.
She said her legs exploded trying to match Van Vleuten, telling her compatriot ‘it’s not normal what you did.’ Van Vleuten explained to Vollering that by virtue of being older she has been racing longer and progressively more each year, and has more experience. She told Vollering ‘it will come’ too for her in the future.
Vollering will undoubtedly be meticulously planning her training for the 2023 Tour de France Femmes. There is only one big climbing day, as opposed to two, which will shift the odds closer to her favour. She too is a powerful time triallist. The majority of the route is also well-suited to the puncheurs, which Vollering will capitalise on in the first six stages, to gain as much of an advantage as possible before the mountainous stage 7.
SD Worx is always one of the most powerful teams, so Vollering will certainly have strong support, perhaps more powerful than Movistar. However, the team might opt to divide the roster to back both Vollering and incoming sprinter Lorena Wiebes.
Kasia Niewiadoma
So close to a stage win, yet so far. Kasia Niewiadoma had high expectations for winning stage 3 of the 2022 Tour de France Femmes on the short but steep climb into Epernay, an ascent that some compared to the Mur de Huy. Her disappointment at finishing sixth was palpable.
It wasn’t meant to be that day but her chances of a stage win at the 2023 Tour de France Femmes have exponentially increased with more mid-mountain routes and the possibility for small selections.
The Polish all-rounder is best suited to routes that include relentless steep pitches. It is when other riders are having difficulty recovering from a succession of efforts that she seems to excel.
Stage 2 into Mauriac and stage 4 into Rodez, look particularly well-suited to Niewiadoma’s strengths.
The Canyon-SRAM rider also trained specifically for 20-minute plus efforts this year to prepare for Le Markstein and La Super Planche des Belles, and while she did not win on these stages, she pleasantly surprised herself with strong and consistent performances she hadn’t thought possible.
Continuing to work on the longer, high-mountain ascents in preparation for the Tour de France Femmes’ focal point on the Tourmalet on stage 7 could leave her moving a step closer to the yellow jersey.
Elisa Longo Borghini
Elisa Longo Borghini and Niewiadoma have many similarities as riders, both excel on mid-mountain stages and show consistency and determination on the longer ascents. Longo Borghini’s asset, however, is her mentality. The Italian is prepared to create race situations that suit her best.
She has a history of racing aggressively and forming the selections at the biggest races. Not willing to sit back and wait for the race to happen, the Trek-Segafredo rider often takes the race by the reins.
There is a certain air of impatience to her racing style. But it is this quality combined with her tenacity that has more often than not resulted in some of her biggest victories – Paris-Roubaix Femmes, Tour of Flanders and even the Women’s Tour.
She is one of the most well-rounded and versatile riders in the peloton, and it is not often that we see riders winning Paris-Roubaix who are also contesting the high mountains of the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France.
It wouldn’t surprise anyone to see Longo Borghini winning the mid-mountain stages at the 2023 Tour de France Femmes, perhaps even wearing the yellow jersey for a day or two, while also holding her own, unwilling to give up, on the Tourmalet.
Potentially supported by riders like Lizzie Deignan and newcomers Amanda Spratt, Brodie Chapman, and Gaia Realini, and time trial world champion Ellen van Dijk, watch for Longo Borghini to improve on her sixth place overall.
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig
It was a delight to watch Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig win stage 3 on the steep slopes into Epernay at the 2022 Tour de France Femmes, and there was no forgetting her authentic emotions in the post-race interview that captured how much that victory meant to her.
It wasn’t the best season for the Danish rider up until that point. Forced out of the Ardennes due to COVID-19, she made a major comeback racing through the Giro d’Italia and into a stage win at the Tour de France Femmes and then took overall victory at Tour of Scandinavia.
FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope, however, also realised the winning potential in Marta Cavalli who won the Amstel Gold Race and Flèche Wallonne but was forced out of the Tour de France Femmes after a horrific crash, and Évita Muzic on the podium in a stage and eighth overall at Tour de France Femmes.
The team now has a selection of cards to play, when you also include Grace Brown and Vittoria Guazzini, for a full complement of possibilities at the Tour de France Femmes. The route is such that this team can capitalise on its versatility through the stages, with Uttrup Ludwig at the centre for the overall classification.
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio
Moving from SD Worx to AG Insurance-NXTG Team means that Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio will have the opportunity to lead the team at the Tour de France Femmes.
She was a rising talent during her time with the former Bigla programme, where it seemed like the sky was the limit for her in pro cycling. Landing a contract with top-tier teams CCC-Liv and SD Worx, however, meant that she was placed in an important support role, with riders like Marianne Vos and Anna van der Breggen taking centre stage. In the 2022 Tour de France Femmes, it was Demi Vollering her team was backing for GC and Moolman Pasio stepped into a support role for a new generation in what was expected to be her final season before retiring.
She has, however, since reconsidered leaving the sport and a new opportunity has presented itself at the three-tier development programme AG Insurance-NXTG Team. Moolman-Pasio has signed to race for the elite team registered as AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step, reflecting their relationship with Patrick Lefevere’s WorldTeam.
Here it appears Moolman-Pasio will finally have that opportunity to shine as a full-fledged team leader, and she is already creating sparks winning the queen stage atop the Thyon 2000 and the overall title at Tour de Romandie. She also won the queen stage of the 2021 Giro d’Italia Donne atop Monte Matajur. They are results that bode well for the Tour de France Femmes 2023, which has a crowning feature on the Col du Tourmalet, so watch for Moolman-Pasio to excel in both her stage and GC goals.
The team has applied for a top-tier licence, but even without that, they were invited to compete as a Continental team at the 2022 Tour de France Femmes. It will be a relatively inexperienced group compared to SD Worx or Trek-Segafredo, so will need to focus their efforts at the 2023 Tour de France Femmes and not spread the team too thin. Moolman-Pasio has shown that she can race with the best if given the chance and so why not put all their efforts into one big GC goal?
Mavi Garcia
Mavi Garcia’s experience at the Tour de France Femmes was horrendous, particularly during the stage 4 gravel route where she flatted twice and was hit by her own team car. Needless to say, her ambitions for a top-three placing in the eight-day race went up in smoke, although she managed to stay in the top ten, which was a remarkable performance all considered.
In recent years, Garcia has transformed from a professional duathlete into a contender at challenging one-day races, and now into one of the best stage racers in the world. If she hadn’t had so much bad luck at the Tour de France Femmes in 2022, we would likely have seen her pushing toward the overall podium, and that frustration just might add fuel to the fire in 2023.
She has shown her ability to climb in one-day races like Strade Bianche, and the Ardennes, and then really flourished at the Giro d’Italia Donne in 2022 where she challenged Annemiek van Vleuten in the higher mountains and finished third overall.
Garcia will be with a new team in 2023 having signed a contract with Liv Racing Xstra. The team’s title sponsor, Liv, financially backs the event, so the team has every reason to go all out in supporting Garcia in her dreams of finishing on the podium at the Tour de France Femmes.
Silvia Persico
The revelation of the Tour de France Femmes, Silvia Persico finished seven of the eight stages inside the top 10 and was fifth overall while racing for the development team Valcar Travel & Service.
The Italian all-rounder will have a team to support even bigger ambitions in 2023, having moved up to the Women’s WorldTour with UAE Team ADQ.
A rider who can contest the high mountain passes and the sprint finishes is bound to do well in the overall classification. Racing for a top-tier team will mark a steep learning curve for Persico, but she will also have support from incoming director Davide Arzeni, who has been her coach for six years and was also the director at Valcar.
Persico has an almost untapped potential that, if the team nurtures wisely, has the capacity to result in stage wins and possibly even a podium at the Tour de France Femmes in 2023.
UAE Team ADQ will also have a selection of cards to play in both a support role for Persico and in the mountains. Incoming riders like Olivia Baril and Alena Amialiusik, combined with Erica Magnaldi, mean that UAE Team ADQ has a real shot at a high overall place at the Tour de France Femmes.
Juliette Labous
Juliette Labous has come into her own as a general classification rider for Team DSM. Joining the team under Sunweb in 2017, she has developed with the programme for six seasons and has extended her contract through 2024.
She had a breakout year in 2021 with top-10 overall performances at Tour of Norway, Women’s Tour and one-day races Flèche Wallonne and at the World Championships. In 2022 she made another big step forward with an overall victory at the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas, a stage win at the Giro d’Italia and fifth overall at Itzulia Women.
By the time she reached the Tour de France Femmes, the French media were lining up to speak with the rising star at the nation’s marquee home event. A consistent performance on the undulating stages and in the higher mountains saw her finish fourth overall.
One can’t help but wonder what such a strong performance could do for her confidence heading into the 2023 Tour de France Femmes. She will certainly remain a contender for the mountainous stage 7, and she has been working on her time trial in recent years, which will keep her in GC contention through the finale in Pau.
Veronica Ewers
Another rider who shot to prominence at the Tour de France Femmes, Veronica Ewers came into the race with EF Education-TIBCO-SVB as a dark horse with little experience on the WorldTour.
She joined the team as a trainee in August 2021 and signed her first full-season contract to race on the WorldTour for the 2022 season. She did not disappoint with victories at Festival Elsy Jacobs and Navarra Women’s Elite Classics, along with podiums at Emakumeen Nafarroako Women’s Elite Classics, Durango – Durango Emakumeen Saria, Giro dell’Emilia Internazionale Donne Elite and Tre Valli Varesine Women’s Race. Among her numerous top-10 performances, she finished fourth in a stage and ninth overall at the Tour de France Femmes.
Having a full-year experience in the top tier of racing could allow Ewers to make that next step up, and she will have the support of EF Education-TIBCO-SVB to continue that progress into a dedicated team leader.