"This is the best day of my life" - Charlotte Kool over the moon with Tour de France Femmes victory
Cycling
Charlotte Kool was in the past a leadout for Lorena Wiebes but had the difficult challenge of facing her biggest rival today on the opening day of the Tour de France Femmes. As luck would have it, a broken chain means she did not have to, and in the final sprint she was the strongest and took the yellow jersey in The Hague.
"It's unbelievable. This is a dream. It wasn't an easy season, but this is where it turned around. I want to thank so many people. My trainer, everyone around me. They always kept believing in me. It was a very hectic final, but I like that," Kool said in a post-race interview. The Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL rider was one of the favourites for today's stage but alongside Wiebes were also the likes of Elisa Balsamo and Marianne Vos which posed as threats.
But the Dutch team held it together well under pressure and managed to deploy the key pieces of the leadout already inside the final 500 meters. Taking advantage of the chaos in SD Worx after Wiebes suffered a mechanical, Kool launched her sprint from far but with slipstreaming and managed to be the fastest at the finish line, beating Anninna Ahtosalo and Elisa Balsamo to what is perhaps the biggest win of her career - and second of the season.
"I said that to myself too: 'it's hectic, it's chaos, this is fun'. In the sprint, I started from very far away. It hurt so much, but it was enough at the end. I have no words. This is the best day of my life. Everything comes together. That is very special," he concluded.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- Schreiber won. UCI please admit your fault and correct result.averagecyclist10-11-2026
- She deviated from her line - end of
leedorney10-11-2026 - If I was Lucinda Brand, I'd refuse to wear the jersey. Is there a rule that she "has to" wear it, as the winner? It would certainly feel like stolen valor.wrsty10-11-2026
- but don't let your socks be too long or handlebars be a cm too narrow.mij10-11-2026
- Saw a casual interview with Geraint Thomas and him a few years ago. Seems like a nice laid guy and I wish him well.GregT10-11-2026
- Ernesto Maggioni - The president of the commissaires Mafia. It is getting evident that this guy is basically "Iamalwaysrightandyouarestupidsoiwontlistentoyou" kind of guy. So fire him so that he can be always right in his homeabstractengineer10-11-2026
- Somehow it has got into his mind that he is a GC rider. He is primarily a classics and stage rider who can perform on GC given his day. As a result he is wasting his time on TDF GC and once committed to GC you are too tired to do anything else.abstractengineer10-11-2026
- 🐐❤️Lozza09-11-2026
- This is such a black eye to women's professional cyclocross if this result remains. Marie Schreiber won this race fairly. This finish is not unlike others in cyclocross. Lots of moving around to get to the finish not to cut anyone off , but to generate a sprint on soft wide tires caked with mud and sand. This is not nearly the same as a road race between two riders sprinting to the finish on faster bikes and thinner firmer tires. The powers in charge need to use some common sense, reverse this result and remember this is Cyclocross not Road racing. Unbelievable. . .Zencycle09-11-2026
- Tis beyond your comprehension fine sir so best not to look on with blind eyes to THE GOATS greatness.
Brucegel09-11-2026
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WAT EEN PRESTATIE!!! 😍 A memorable sprint finish as @charlotte_kool powers to the win in Den Haag after some brilliant teamwork to set her up 🏆👏🏻 Geweldig gedaan, allemaal! 🧡 #KeepChallenging #TDFF2024
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