We all remember the four seconds that won Kasia Niewiadoma the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift last year. It was the narrowest winning Tour margin in history and perhaps the most tense, tight finish ever seen in modern stage racing. Demi Vollering, who finished in second place overall that year, has since said in interviews that she constantly considers the ‘what ifs’ when looking back on what happened in 2024. What if she had got up from her crash a few seconds faster? What if she had managed to gain a few more seconds in the time trial? What if she had won more bonus seconds earlier in the race? Would that mean a second yellow jersey in her collection?
It seems that it is not just the FDJ-Suez rider for whom those questions are under serious consideration. So far in this year’s Tour de France Femmes, the fight for bonus seconds at intermediate sprint points has been fierce – it appears the entire peloton remembers what happened last year and does not want to leave any stone unturned when it comes to the fight for the biggest prize in our sport.
“I think that everyone remembers last year's edition where actually it was about seconds in the end. You never know what can happen, so if you can see some seconds it seems like everyone is ready to embrace that,” Kasia Niewiadoma commented at the end of Wednesday’s stage.
One rider who has been particularly aggressive at intermediate sprint points is Kim Le Court of AG Insurance-Soudal who currently leads the race. The Mauritian rider has secured herself the yellow jersey as a result of her efforts at every opportunity and says she is not worried about the impact this could have on her fatigue as the race rolls on.
“I know the micro-accelerations can add up, but seconds at the bonus seconds can also add up,” Le Court commented after stage six. “I’d rather the seconds added up than the micro-accelerations did. I felt good today, it didn’t feel like those sprints were adding to fatigue in my legs.”
Others believe that with the mountains to come, preserving energy is paramount. While Le Court’s school of thought is, as a lesser climber compared to her competitors, she needs to bank as many time bonuses as she before the long climbs the likes of Vollering are looking to save themselves until the terrain gets especially tough.
“It is not so easy to make differences on these climbs that aren’t that long, everyone looks good uphill and I’m looking forward to coming days to see what we can achieve on these sorts of finishes,” the Dutch rider said a few moments after finishing stage six.
“In the end you try to grab whatever bonus seconds you have but Kim is very explosive so I couldn't hold her wheel yesterday and today. I didn’t want to totally kill myself because the Tour is still long, everytime you go all out for these bonus seconds you can really feel it towards the end.”
It’s a contrasting approach from each rider and which one is successful will only become clear when the mountains start later this week. Le Court, who currently is resplendent in yellow, is going for an aggressive, explosive, fiery approach to this race while Vollering is biding her time. The FDJ-Suez rider is banking on her abilities in the mountains to make a difference against her competitors. Both strategies are risky, but both could offer the most valuable of rewards.
