Marianne Vos for stages and Riejanne Markus for GC; Visma | Lease a Bike have huge expectations for the upcoming Tour de France Femmes
Cycling
Team Visma | Lease a Bike is on the eve of its third Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. The 2024 edition promises to be special in many ways. Even more special for all the Dutch teams and ladies at the start with Grand Départ in Rotterdam.
Already 37 years old, Marianne Vos shows no signs of aging with seven big victories and Olympic silver to her name in 2024, as she heads off to her third Tour participation. This time will be even more special since the women's version of the legendary Grande Boucle will have start in Netherlands next Monday.
"Now that the start is in the Netherlands, it feels a bit different than usual. I'm very curious about the atmosphere in the Netherlands. Of course, it gives something extra to the Dutch riders and teams. The Tour is the biggest race there is, so you always do everything to appear in the best possible shape. I'm going to try to go for a stage win again," Vos promises in press communication.
Riejanne Markus
Her teammate Riejanne Markus was a bit sour after no call-up for the Olympic Games despite Ellen van Dijke's ankle fracture hindering her preparation. The Dutch time trial champion doesn't let that get underneath her skin and instead aims for good GC run at the Tour. With 2nd place from Vuelta Espana Femenina in May, she can certainly aim high.
"I'm aiming for a good overall classification," Markus asserts. "I haven't finished in the top ten in the Tour yet. I hope to achieve that this year. I've secretly circled the time trial on day two in red. It's a very nice course that should suit me well. Additionally, the stages in the final weekend have caught my attention."
Alpe d'Huez
The final stage of the Tour finishes on Alpe d’Huez. A special moment for many of the ladies at the start. Inculding the experienced Vos: "The finish on Alpe d’Huez will be very special. I only know that climb from TV."
Markus recently rode up Alpe d’Huez for the first time. "That was with my sister during a training camp. It's a beautiful mountain. I hope to secure a top ten overall classification for the first time in my life that day."
Visma | Lease a Bike Women lineup for Tour de France Femmes 2024:
Riejanne Markus
Marianne Vos
Anna Henderson
Fem van Empel
Femke de Vries
Sophie von Berswordt
Linda Riedmann
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- No, it didn't. It has been debunked by the team that there was anything wrong with his feeding. Pogacar went too early and paid the price.maaiikeen31-12-2024
- Strong team around Jonas and pray each day that Tadej forgets to eat in the decisive stages (col du Granon). It also happened this year, stage 11 when Jonas won the sprint (incredible! Tadej was empty).
maria2024202430-12-2024 - Not quite yet I’d say but she could reach and surpass. You probably forgot Vos’ 2 track WC titles that outweigh the total and it has to be said more of PFPs MTB titles are a bit far fetched than Vos but yes they are comparable. It’s strange that with her consistent participation in xc she’s never ever managed to win even one race, Marie Schreiber can at least retire with that achievement ;-)Mistermaumau30-12-2024
- He may be known as “The goat” but I can’t realistically consider him a top ten candidate taking together all forms of cycling. Vos had 28 UCI WC wins, Absalon 33, Schurter 34, MVDP 41 and counting. As far as world championships they are all ahead too Longo, MVDP, PFP, Merckx, de Vlaeminck, TP and at least a half dozen others from long ago are surely higher up, or what criteria are you privileging other than a nickname?Mistermaumau30-12-2024
- and yeah, i’m a ridiculous blowhard for writing THAT MUCH. seriously, f me…OCexile30-12-2024
- this has diverged from being a per se cycling discussion, but that’s cool with me. so i live in the united states. for background, i grew up in southern california, educated at UC Irvine and UC Berkeley, and except for chunks of a 22 year Navy career i’ve lived here most of my life. there are things about this country, the way its social, political, and economic institutions function that IN MY OPINION fail considerably in comparison to other developed democracies. BUT, one thing that i think the US does excel in is that we have an extraordinarily high level of freedom of speech. now, that certainly opens the door for the alex joneses of the world to weaponize/monetize speech in utterly disgusting ways that do actual damage. it also gives freedom to politicians to say that the press is corrupt and should be jailed, like in russia, iran, or venezuela. these are DANGEROUS uses of freedom of speech. but as much as that freedom may imperil the well being of individuals and ideas — like the idea of liberty itself — it’s that freedom that has, over time, marked the SLOW movement toward greater equality and well being. this extreme level of free speech is certainly the primary fundamental right in the united states that has functioned, over time, to actively drive social progress. i mean, quack quack quack, right? the kind of speech that MOST needs protection is UNPOPULAR SPEECH. we KNOW this. but if you can only engage in unpopular speech IN PRIVATE, as you suggested, and be BARRED from a public platform to share those unpopular ideas, then your freedom to speak means very little and the whole project of social change and social progress grinds to a halt. “YES, you can talk about all races being equal to your friends, but you can’t publish any articles making that argument.” “YES, you can say that homosexuality isn’t a dangerous perversion that must be legislated against so long as you ONLY say it to your friends, but you can’t say it on a radio show.” so the problem is, if there’s going to be prior restraint of speech, the only person I’M gonna trust to decide who can say what before they say it is ME. if somebody wants to let me and my friends make all those decisions, then i’m IN. i’d expect a little pushback on that idea though. alex jones would probably like that job, too. lance would love that kind of power i bet. sooooo…. maybe it’s better to just leave things like they are. it’s ugly and messy and people get hurt, but once you SURRENDER that nearly unlimited freedom you’ll never get it back. and yes, society has drawn lines: still can’t threaten to blow up a mosque or share child pornography, etc. — that’s a pretty good idea. but erring on the side of freedom rather than censorship has been critical in preserving valuable free speech rather than seeing it slowly winnowed and legislated away. so yeah, there WILL be another alex jones, neonazis get to deny the holocaust, and lance gets to talk about cycling all he wants. and if you don’t like the source or the content then YOU are free to rail against it, or just not listen. as always, totally appreciate and respect YOUR perspective, brother. and i do get where you’re coming from. there are individuals in the US who have (or are about to have) the biggest platform there is who say things that drive me mad because i find them so dangerous and misleading, but the american version of democracy, with all its notable failings, has survived by preserving freedom of speech in the face of these types, not by limiting it.OCexile30-12-2024
- There is a cyclist, recently retired who raced as a Junior in 1997, and is known as 'The Goat'. Downhill legend, Greg Minnaar......wipperman9530-12-2024
- The road bias of this site shows up as PFP isn't mentioned - who is as successful as Vos, and from memory has more World titles.wipperman9530-12-2024
- his wife was surprisingly accurateabstractengineer30-12-2024
- Its the wrong thing to do the Vuelta after getting exhausted in the TDF. This is going to reduce his career potentialabstractengineer30-12-2024