How It Happened: The Story of an Epic Tour de France Femmes

Vélo

August 19, 2024

After eight stages, it came down to just four seconds. The history books will tell that Kasia Niewiadoma edged Demi Vollering in the 2024 Tour de France Femmes, but that is only part of this incredible story...

The 2024 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift was one for the record books. The third (modern) edition of this stage race ran from August 12 to August 18. The women covered eight stages including a two-stage day and a finale on the famous Alpe d’Huez.

Demi Vollering (SD Worx–Protime) was trying to defend her win from last year, and while she took the yellow jersey on day two, it was nothing but a battle from there on. There’s absolutely no denying that women’s cycling is wildly exciting. The final stage, and the overall GC win, came down to four seconds. Four seconds! We’re here for women’s racing!

There were ups and downs throughout the week, and we’ve got all the highlights.

Stage One: Rotterdam > The Hague

The Tour started with a 123 km flat stage around Rotterdam, which is a major port city in the Dutch province of South Holland. Many riders who grew up in the region were thrilled to start off on home soil. In fact, Dutch rider Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx–Protime) was the favorite for the stage, but she had an unfortunate mechanical before the sprint finish.

So it was all Charlotte Kool (dsm–firmenich PostNL) at the line, also a Dutch rider, who gained a 4-second lead on the rest of the group. Kool became the first to wear the yellow jersey at this year’s Tour, reminiscent of the men’s first yellow jersey wearer, Roman Bardet, also from team dsm-Firmenich PostNL.

Stage Two and Three: Dordrecht > Rotterdam

Two stages in one day is a rare thing. We last saw it at the men’s Tour de France in 1991, when riders took on a flat stage around Lyon, followed by a team time trial.

For this year’s version, the women started out with a flat 70 km stage followed just a few hours later by a blistering fast 6.3 km individual time trial.

DID YOU WATCH? Tobin Heath & Demi Vollering Talk Women's Sports

What’s cooler than winning a stage in yellow? Not much. And that’s exactly what Charlotte Kool (dsm–firmenich PostNL) did in stage 2, with a photo finish ahead of Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx–Protime). That means Kool took control of the yellow and green jerseys.

Then, with barely any recovery, straight into the time trial. For those who thought this might be a boring addition to the race, it was anything but.

Demi Vollering was in imperious form on Stage 3 of the Tour de France Femmes. Photography by: A.S.O. / Thomas Maheux

Loes Adegeest (FDJ–Suez) threw down an absolutely blazing time early (7:30:52), which Ellen van Dijk (Lidl–Trek) came close to (1.36 seconds down), and Kristen Faulkner (EF–Oatly–Cannondale) came even closer to (0.77 seconds down). But it was Chloé Dygert (Canyon–SRAM) who finally went faster, by just 0.17 seconds to move into the lead.

Then, to everyone’s surprise, Demi Vollering (SD Worx–Protime) smashed: 5.21 seconds faster than Dygert. Clearly making a statement that she wanted her yellow jersey back, and she got it. Kool stayed in green.

Stage Four: Valkenburg > Liège

After a big day yesterday, with an early stage and a late stage, and then a transfer to Valkenburg, riders were likely a bit exhausted. But things ramped up even more on Wednesday, the first hilly stage. The race was still in the Netherlands and still on the famous roads of the Spring Classics.

The day started off with the Amstel-Gold course, and ended with Liège-Bastogne-Liège roads. Riders who were familiar with these classics courses were expected to excel.

It was rainy for most of the day, which meant cautious riding and some wet-road scares.

Then, with 51 km to go, the entire peloton had to stop for a train. That’s not something you see every day! Only a few riders were on the wrong side of the train, but everyone had to stop. Luckily they were only paused for a few minutes, but still a disruption.

Stage 4 saw an incredible sprint finish between Puck Pieterse, Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma. Photography by: A.S.O. / Charly Lopez

The final kilometer was one for the highlight reel. In the last 600 meters Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon–SRAM) attacked away from Demi Vollering and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck). But they wouldn’t be dropped. Pieterse had never ridden a stage race and had never won a WorldTour race, let alone a road race. Pieterse took it all the way to the line with seasoned veterans Niewiadoma and Vollering doing everything they could to take the win. It was a photo finish and it was all Pieterse.

At only 22 years old, Pieterse took over the young rider jersey and the polkadot jersey.

Stage Five: Bastogne > Amnéville

Drama at the Tour! It had to happen eventually. Unfortunately, in Stage 5 it came in the form of a crash just outside of the 5 km safe zone, and it involved yellow jersey wearer Demi Vollering. She, and many others, went down hard, and in order to secure her status, had to jump back on the bike and fight through the pain to finish with as little deficit as possible.

Hungarian road champ Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime) sprinted to a career-making stage victory, but it wasn’t long before she learned that her teammate had lost yellow because of the crash. Evidently, her radio was not working, nor were some of the others on the SDWorx team, and so no one was there to help Vollering.

Vollering put a big effort in despite her visible wounds, and managed to finish 1:47 behind the stage winner. Despite the effort, she dropped from first place to ninth in the GC and was down on Niewiadoma, the new yellow jersey wearer, by 1:19. This crash, and what happened after, with no help from SDWorx-Protime, may very well have made it impossible for Vollering to get the yellow jersey back.

Stage Six: Remiremont > Morteau

Another big day, and the first full day in France. Nearly 100 miles from Remiremont to Morteau. The route had more than 7,000 feet of climbing, almost entirely in the second half of the day. With the previous day’s crash, quite a few riders were likely stiff and still sore, if not freshly sutured.

DID YOU READ? Strava's Most Iconic Cycling Segments

Stage 4’s winner, Puck Pieterse, made a QOM move but was countered by Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit–WNT), who went solo after the Côte des Fins and secured a solo win. At the line, she looked utterly stunned.

Kerbaol’s surprise victory marked a significant milestone as she became the first French winner in the event’s three-year history.

Stage Seven: Champagnole > Le Grand-Bornand

The stages just kept ramping up. Stage 7 saw 103 miles and more than 9,000 feet of climbing. The elevation profile was just constant up and down. One of the key climbs was the Col de la Serra, which was 7.47 miles with 2,001 ft elevation gain and an average 5.1% grade. Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal-Quick-Step) took the QOM in 31:14 while wearing the polkadot jersey.

And that was a pretty good preview of what was to come. Ghekiere went on to take a solo win on the stage.

But there was even more drama behind. Back in the GC group with the yellow jersey (Niewiadoma), last year’s champ, Vollering, Dygert, and Wiebes all pushed the pace to the final kilometer of the stage.

Vollering countered the yellow jersey’s attack and kept things under control. According to a post-race interview, Vollering was playing some mental games. She said, “It wasn’t steep enough [to make a difference], so I chose the wheel of Kasia. If you take the lead, everyone’s able to profit from your efforts. I didn’t want to do that today. I wanted to make Kasia nervous and I think I did.”

Niewiadoma and Vollering stuck close on Stage 7. Photography by: A.S.O. / Charly Lopez

Though she’s been at the front of the race the whole time, we hadn’t seen big moves from Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) until today. And though she usually stays stoic even when she’s working hard, today we actually saw Vos grit her teeth and really go for it to gain the green jersey. And it worked. She ended the day in green, above Kool.

Stage Eight: Le Grand-Bornand > Alpe d’Huez

The last dance! This final stage included some of the most challenging and iconic segments of the entire race. The 93-mile route with 12,260 feet of climbing, took riders over a grueling course including the notorious Col du Glandon, to the main event: the legendary L’Alpe d’Huez. Twenty-one hairpin turns for 3,663 feet of climbing in just 8.5 miles. And at the top? Glory. If this stage didn’t make you want to drop everything and go ride this incredible road, we can’t help you.

And if this finale didn’t have you telling everyone you know to become a fan of women’s cycling, we don’t know what will. It’s possible that this stage was the best final stage in Tour de France history, for the men and the women. Some are already comparing it to the Greg Lemond vs. Laurent Fignon battle of 1989.

Niewiadoma was forced to dig deep on Stage 8. Photography by: A.S.O./ Thomas Maheux

Vollering knew that if she was going to win the thing: get the yellow jersey back, she’d have to execute a perfect ride. The concentration on her face was incredible. But of course Niewiadoma also knew what was on the line. Even though she had the advantage, she knew it would take an incredible ride to keep Vollering at bay.

The final kilometers up Alpe d’Huez were just bonkers exciting. Vollering worked with Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix–Deceuninck) up the climb, and did everything she could to make a gap between herself and the yellow jersey.

In the end Vollering took an incredible stage win on the iconic summit finish, four seconds ahead of Rooijakkers and 1:01 ahead of Niewiadoma. It was so close the calculations took a minute to figure out. And then it was announced: Niewiadoma had won the Tour de France Femmes by four seconds. Rooijakkers rounded out the GC podium and emotions were high.

Would things have been different if SD Worx-Protime had worked together more for Vollering in stage 5? Probably. Was anyone upset to see Niewiadoma claim the victory? Definitely not.

Also huge props to Puck Pieterse on an incredible first stage race and the white jersey. And to Justine Ghekiere for winning the overall polkadot jersey, and Marianne Vos for securing the green jersey. All around an incredible podium and an incredible race.