Tour de France Femmes 2022: ‘You can lose entire Tour’ on ‘absolutely ridiculous’ Super Planche

The final climb of the Tour de France Femmes is “absolutely ridiculous” and could derail the entire race for some GC hopefuls, according to Eurosport commentator Jose Been.

The inaugural eight-stage race gets underway on Sunday, with the ascent up La Super Planche des Belles Filles on the last day – which tops out at a gruesome 24% – set to produce fireworks.

Ahead of the event, Orla Chennaoui hosted a Tour de France Femmes roundtable with fellow Eurosport experts Been, Iris Slappendel and Laura Meseguer to discuss the main themes of the showpiece event.

And Been is itching for the riding to commence, telling Chennaoui that this “is the best of the best of women’s cycling and there will be a story to tell every day”.

“Well, Stage 4 is of course going to be really, really long – 175km, the longest stage ever in a women’s race,” said Been. “So, I’m really excited to see what the dynamic is going to be like.

“And having seen the men up La Super Planche des Belles Filles, I am so looking forward to seeing what the women can do there. It’s 24%. It’s absolutely ridiculous. And you can lose your entire Tour de France on that final climb, on the final day.”

Iris Slappendel, who won the Dutch National Road Race Championships in 2014, said that the short nature of the race will only increase the tension, adding that the gravel stage could pose problems for the whole of the peloton.

“I like it,” said Slappendel. “It’s only eight days because it will keep the tension,”

“I still think that Stage 4, the gravel stage, could be a really tricky one for Annemiek van Vleuten. It’s already up to the other teams to attack her a bit sooner in the race and not wait for the last two stages [in the mountains].

“So I think every day there will be a battle for the stages, but there will also be already a battle to beat Annemiek quite early in the week.”

Been added that Vollering could potentially strike a decisive blow on the 126km partially unpaved schlep from Troyes to Bar-sur-Aube.

“Demi Vollering is the national gravel champion so she’s got a little bit of an advantage there,” said Been.

“We did see in the Giro that she’s [Van Vleuten] not unbeatable. There will be other riders. Vollering has not been super strong this year, not like she was last year, but with the team that she brings with SD Worx [she can compete].

“It’s an amazing team with all the experience, for example, of Ashley Morgan as a road captain and Vollering with all the strength that she has.

“She basically has a home race on the final two stages because she lives just across the border in Switzerland. She’s been doing a lot of recon already in the mountains.”

While, as Been points out, Van Vleuten is not unbeatable, Meseguer says it is difficult to look past a rider who this year has won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Liege-Bastogne-Liege Femmes as well as sealing the general and points classification at the Giro Donne.

“I think we have all the ingredients to have a great race,” said Meseguer.

“I think it helps to ride aggressive and the women’s peloton has this attitude. I think with Annemiek it’s going to be difficult to battle her.”

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