Sunday is the day; After three weeks of toil, the riders from the Tour de France drive over the Champs-Elysées. And then the most important cycling race of the year comes to an end. But anyone who thinks you have to get rid of hours of couches do not have to grieve.
On Saturday, ten Brabant women will be on ‘Le Grand Départ’ of the Tour de France Femmes. Of the 217 riders, almost five percent come from Brabant. The Tour starts at 5.40 pm with a hill ride in Brittany.
These are the ten Brabant participants:
Marianne Vos (38) from Babyloniënbroek
Fourteen times world champion on the road, on the track, in the field and gravel. Twice Olympic champion and two stages in the Tour de France Femmes, those are just a few highlights from the career of all -rounder Marianne Vos. Together with the French Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, she is one of the head women at Visma-Lease A Bike. This year she is going again for a stage victory.
Yara Kastelijn (27) from Neerkant
European cyclocross champion (2019) and won a stage from the Tour de France Femmes in 2023.
Amber Kraak (30) from Oss
This world champion rowing in 2021 exchanged her boat for a racing bike. Since then she has cycled for Team Visma-Lease A Bike and FDJ-Suez. In 2023 she became seventeenth in the Tour de France Femmes.
Femke Gerritse (24) from Rosmalen
Earlier this year she won a Ronde van Spain stage by Marianne Vos in the sprint too quickly. In the Tour de France Femmes 2022 she won the ball jersey.
Lieke Nooijen (24) from Helmond
As a little girl, she already cycled with her grandmother from Deurne to Asten and back, about twenty kilometers. Now she can show what she can do in the Tour de France Femmes.
Karlijn Swinkels (26) Veghel
Last year she switched to another team and since then she has been able to develop a lot. She dreams of riding at the highest level in a team with her sister Sylvie, also a professional cyclist.
Sylvie Swinkels (24) from Veghel
She started cycling because her grandfather, father and her sister Karlijn already did that. She first did that on a lawn nearby so that she would fall softly. And that often happened, but she continued to like it.
Silke Smulders (24) from Loon op Zand
She became thirteenth in the Tour of Italy last year. This year she had to do it with a fourteenth place. She is proud that she once cycled the first Paris-Roubaix and Tour de France for women. Last year she became 21st in the Tour.
Teuntje Beekhuis (29) from Geldrop
Her season did not go as hoped last year. Due to an operation on her thigh artery, she was out for a long time. Among other things, due to a chain problem, she became thirtieth in Paris-Roubaix Femmes this year. Now she can’t wait for her debut in the Tour.
Thalita de Jong (31) from Bergen op Zoom
She previously became Dutch, European and world champion cyclocross, but this season the Thalita is not easy. After a collarbone fracture, she also became very ill. Last month she said ‘Back in the air ‘ to be. This will be her fourth tour.