Out of curiosity, it seems SRAM’s presence on the women’s TdF is much, much stronger than on the men’s side. I wonder whether there is a backstory to it. (Living in Japan and knowing how unequal a society it is, I wouldn’t be surprised if Shimano just isn’t that interested in sponsoring women’s teams.)
The other thing is that even on the men’s side, the teams that were running Shimano were very often still on 11-speed Di2. I’m not saying this is a bad groupset, but I’m still somewhat surprised.
Btw I dont at all think she does, I was just being sarcastic since everyone is so quick to accuse the men all the time. I just think she’s that good.
I feel so bad for demi vollering. She’s an exceptional rider and pretty obviously outclassed evey rider in that field, except one unfortunately. Still, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone, man or woman, try SO hard to win. She’s amazing. So btw is that labous kid from DSM. Man what talented young ladies they have in this field. You could throw a rock and hit a 25 years old or younger future superstar
This was awesome, loved every moment
My understanding is that many teams chose to stay with the 11sp because there wasn’t enough availability of the 12sp to fully stock the service course and they didn’t want to mix. Only certain Shimano sponsored teams were guaranteed a full supply.
That seems crazy and worthy of a story in and of itself, DuraAce R9200 was released 11 months ago.
I’m so impressed with American Veronica Ewers. She overcame some early struggles in the beginning but seemed to improve in each stage as the race wore on.
She had a cute interview after her 4th on Stage 4, which she should never downplay a 4th in any race imho but particularly this one it was a fantastic result.
Moved up 4 places on this final stage I believe to finish well within the top 10.
Not a bad result for anyone let alone a former college soccer player in her first year in the pro peloton. Plus she’s from the INW!
Fun race to experience, hope they can extend it next year.
Dutchie here. Just informing that the expression ‘niet normaal’ should have translated into ‘great’ or ‘excellent’ in English. It’s a way of giving praise in Dutch. Vos simply was impressed with Van Vleuten.
Another proof that Dutch is just funny German!
But seriously, Van Vleuten earned it!
Van Vleuten was spectacular!! And this tour was more entertaining to watch than the other ones(men’s tours included!)
The motorcycle stalling out was pretty funny, but also concerning since there were some women coming up fairly soon who were about to duke it out to the line.
Regarding AvV’s age - women tend to stay stronger/get better at endurance for longer than men. I think things tend to drop after menopause. There had been an archane “average age” rule for women’s UCI teams that Katherine Bertine railed against because of many reasons why women tended to be pro cyclists at older ages than men (longer-lasting performance was one, the fact that many women riders typically don’t go pro (or even “discover” cycling) until much later than men was another), and they finally dropped it in 2013. She talks more about this, and I’d provide the reference except I can’t remember if it’s in the movie Half the Road, or in one of her books (probably it would be in As Good as Gold, but it might be in Stand).
I don’t normally watch cycling (or any sports), but I actually watched all of the women’s tour and it was really fun. I can’t make comparisons to how women’s cycling is different from men’s, but I can just say that they are all amazing athletes to tackle a race like that.
Loved her raw emotion and brutal honesty after her win on stage 3:
i admit i lol’d at that motorcycle. driver was trying so hard to keep it upright there but in the end gravity was just too much. i was actually more concerned with the riders who finished having to ride down the active race course to get to their team rvs when half the peloton was still struggling up the climb. that’s a BAD idea. i myself would 100% have crashed into someone
One of the best interviewees in either of the Pro Pelotons.
I’m not ashamed to say that she’s the reason I started following womens cycling. Her interview after she finished the 2018 La Couse was what got me into watching. How could you not, just awesome to see.
Check out her interview when she’s describing her 3rd place at the 2019 Tour of Flanders ‘Full gas into the Kwaremont and then PAAAM…people screaming aaaaahhhh…I was like a dead fish!’ She’s so animated!
It’s very cute how much she loves the audience cheering for her and how much she appreciates it.
That’s great, what a star.
Love her too. Reminds me of this dude…
The best analysis I’ve seen of this TdF/F season:
YES, the interview after she won the stage left me tearing up