La Course winner Demi Vollering (SD Worx) has already ridden the main climbs of the Tour de France Femmes 2022, as she takes aim at the general classification next July.
The route, announced last week, will feature two mountain climbs in the Vosges: the Grand Ballon on stage 7, and La Planche des Belles Filles as the finale of stage 8.
“I saw them in training. I did the Grand Ballon and I finished on the Planche des Belles Filles. Actually, I trained already for this race maybe, but I didn’t know yet,” Vollering said.
“When I saw the last two days, I got really excited. It’s close to where we live in Switzerland, so I’ve trained there already and it’s a really cool area.”
As well as two mountain stages, the peloton will face a tough challenge in the form of stage 5’s hilly, 175km-long parcours.
“I don’t think we’ve had such a long race before, especially in a stage race that will be a really hard one,” Vollering said. “I think the beginning is quite flat and then in the end you have a few small climbs so that will be a hard day. For me, it’s not so necessary that the race has such a long stage in it, but we will see how that goes.”
The white gravel roads on stage 4 could prove fertile ground for Vollering’s SD Worx team, who took first, third and sixth on the similar terrain of Strade Bianche earlier this year.
“[The gravel] is also super nice. I think we are really good on the gravel so hopefully we can something cool there.”
Despite the varied route, the main omission from the Tour de France Femmes 2022 is a time trial, a discipline Demi Vollering says she is getting “better and better” at.
“It’s a bit disappointing that it’s not in [the race],” she said. “Maybe for the next years that will be nice.”
After winning La Course, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Women’s Tour in 2021, Vollering confirmed that the Tour de France Femmes will be among her objectives next season: “That will be one of my goals. I’m really looking forward to maybe going in yellow.”
“It’s really cool that this race is coming back for women as a stage race. I’m really excited and I’m really looking forward to it.”
