Date: Monday July 12, 2024
Distance: 124km
Start location: Rotterdam
Finish location: La Haye
Start time: 12:15 CEST
Finish time: 15:33 CEST
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and was home to Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, the Renaissance humanist who moved from city to city tutoring, lecturing and corresponding with thinkers all over Europe. He died in 1536 in Basel, Switzerland, but his legacy continues through the Erasmus programme, which enables students to study in any country in the European Union. Erasmus lived by the motto, "the whole world is home to us all," and when the Women’s WorldTour heads to his birthplace for the third edition of the Tour de France Femmes, riders and fans from around the globe will unite in Rotterdam to celebrate the pinnacle of women's racing.
But this isn’t the first Grand Départ the city has hosted. In 2010, the men’s Tour de France set off from the Dutch city. Beyond Rotterdam, the Netherlands is the foreign country that has seen the most Tour starts, with six Grand Départs – Amsterdam in 1954, The Hague in 1973, Leiden in 1978, ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 1996, Rotterdam in 2010, and Utrecht in 2015. This tally will now be taken to seven with the Tour de France Femmes setting off from Rotterdam, the first time the Tour de France Femmes has had a foreign Grand Départ.
Many of the rider’s in the women’s peloton will receive a hero’s welcome, especially defending champion Demi Vollering who was born in the nearby town of Pijnacker. Cycling superstar Marianne Vos, as well as Lorena Wiebes, Lucinda Brand, Riejanne Markus, Fem van Empel, Mylène de Zoete, and Chantel van den Broek-Blaak will all be racing on home turf. This will benefit those riders as they’ll be comfortable on stage one’s flat, open roads that are susceptible to crosswinds, meaning there is a possibility of echelons forming all the way to the finish in La Haye. However, the flat parcours means that this is likely a stage for the sprinters, and not only will the first rider in yellow in this race, they’ll be the first ever rider to win a stage in La Haye, the home of the Dutch government.
Stage profile sourced via ASO
Contenders
Stage one of the Tour de France Femmes will most likely go to a sprinter with only 158 metres of climbing across the entire 123-kilometre stage. In the Women's WorldTour, there are some stand-out sprinters who we expect to contest stage one of the Tour including the likes of Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), Charlotte Kool (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek).
Wiebes is the best sprinter in the WorldTour at the moment, with 18 victories already to her name in the 2024 season alone. She placed 11th overall in the Olympics road race for the Dutch team, but before that, she had a stellar Baloise Ladies Tour, winning every stage bar one and taking both the overall and points classifications. Her Tour de France Femmes last year got off to a good starting with a stage victory and a second-place podium, however, illness caused her to withdraw from the race ahead of stage five. With a sprint opportunity in her home country, Wiebes will want to open her Tour with a bang and have the chance to wear the prestigious yellow jersey the following day on Dutch soil.
But another Dutch rider who can rival Wiebes is Vos. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider is one of the few riders this season to beat Wiebes at Amstel Gold Race earlier this season when the SD Worx superstar sprinter was caught out by her Dutch rival due to celebrating a moment too early and was piped to the line. While Vos may not have had as many victories as Wiebes this year, she has looked in superb form so far this year – recently taking a silver Olympic gold medal in Paris, winning multiple stages in Catalunya and the Vuelta España Femenina, and taking victories at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Dwars door Vlaanderen, and Amstel Gold. With a reputation as one of the women's peloton's most tactical sprinters, she'll be a real contender for the first rider in yellow.
Kool is another rider in the peloton with a strong, fast finish. However, this season, she has only one victory at the Baloise Ladies Tour and has often been in second place behind Wiebes. The Dutch sprinter will be hungry for a stage victory in this iconic race, which begins in her home country, especially after missing out during last year's race. She has proven she can win amongst some of the very best once this year, but she'll need to be on her top form to win against the likes of Wiebes and Vos.
Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) has had a difficult season with crashes and setbacks but the Italian rider is known for her strong sprint finish and she had some impressive victories earlier this year already. She won Bruuge-De Panne and Trofeo Binda back to back and if she is on her top form, she'll contest the victory on stage one supported by a strong Lidl-Trek line-up. An eye should also be kept on Canyon//SRAM's Chloe Dygert – she comes to the race fresh off an Olympic campaign and has steadily been improving her road sprint in the last two seasons. Lotta Henttala of EF Education-Oatly-Cannondale is another strong sprinter with a win to her name this season at Vuelta a Burgos.
Daria Pikulik (Human Powered Health) has had a good season so far, and during the recent Baloise Ladies Tour, was attaining second and third finishes against Wiebes and Kool. Other riders who could be contenders for the opening stage are Anniina Atosalo (Uno-X Mobility) and Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Jayco-Alula).
Stage one winner prediction
We're expecting Marianne Vos to take the Tour's opening stage. Off the back of an Olympic silver medal and cheered on by home fans, we think she'll take the stage and be the first rider in the yellow jersey.
