Kasia Niewiadoma, Chloé Dygert, Elise Chabbey and Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka all competed in the road cycling events at the Paris Olympic Games and return to action for Canyon-SRAM at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, August 12-18.
The Polish rider, who was third overall last year, will lead the charge for the general classification across the Tour's eight stages, with the roster completed with Neve Bradbury, Soraya Paladin and Alice Towers.
"This year's edition is very tiring from one stage to another. It won't be possible to ride the stages thinking only about the last climbs, as every day is demanding and challenging. I know my level is higher than last year, and I want to show it, give my best, and not let any opportunity for a great result slip by,” Niewiadoma said in a team statement.
“Finishing on Alpe D'Huez will be about strength and fatigue resistance that will gradually build up throughout the previous seven stages. I'm a bigger fan of finishing the Tour on an iconic mountain than a time trial as I'm not a time trial specialist, so I feel more comfortable knowing it will all come down to our pure strengths.”
Niewiadoma finished eighth in the Olympic road race, while her teammate Dygert won a pair of medals in Paris in two other events for the US, a bronze in the individual time trial and gold on the track in the Team Pursuit.
Joining Dygert in a debut at the Tour de France Femmes is 22-year-old Bradbury. The finale atop l’Alpe d’Huez suits the young Australian, who won the queen stage of the Giro d’Italia with the mountaintop finish on Blockhaus and took third overall at that Grand Tour.
“Overall, it's a challenging parcours but quite heavy ended, and the GC battle will mostly be decided on the last stage. I'm looking forward to stage eight, which finishes up Alpe D'Huez. It's similar to the stage I won at the Giro, and I think the crowd will be insane on the hilltop. I want to continue riding aggressively with a ‘no regrets’ attitude,” Bradbury said.
This year’s Grand Départ takes place in Rotterdam, with an opening road stage and then a double dip on Tuesday with a 67km road stage followed by a 6.3km time trial. The Tour culminates with back-to-back mountain stages in the Alpes.
In addition to a podium in the GC last year, Niewiadoma won the mountain classification. Towers finished fifth in the best young rider classification, and after not being able to complete the Giro this year due to an injury, was glad to return to support the squad.
“My preparation for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift has been challenging. After my crash at the Giro, I injured my knee, and I've been working hard with my coach and daily physiotherapy to reach the race in good shape. I'm happy to say that I'm on track,” Towers reported in the team announcement.
“This year's Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is heavily loaded towards the end, with the GC mountain days being on the last couple of stages. The parcours can work well for us, as we have shown in last year's Tour and this year's Giro that we are still riding strongly towards the end of a hard stage race.”
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