'Big shock to the system' - Former WorldTour rider Veronica Ewers resumes slow return to peloton with 'experiment' at French ProTeam's Tour de France Femmes training camp

Veronica Ewers, a former WorldTour rider with success at Grand Tours and one-day races, will watch this year's Tour de France Femmes on television, with her family in Moscow, Idaho. She's eager to watch the action unfold, but competing in the fast-paced peloton with climbs of Mont Ventoux and Col d'Eze are still far off her radar.

The closest she'll get to the Tour was riding three weeks with St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93 at their recent training camp to prepare for the Tour de France Femmes, August 1-9. The invitation was an easy 'yes' for Ewers, as the French ProTeam travelled to Colorado for riding at high elevation plus nutrition and hydration analysis with sponsor Skratch Labs, based in Boulder.

The accomplished US rider continues with a planned full year away from racing to recover from REDs, Relative Energy Deficiency. This is now her second chance to improve after resting for just a few months in 2024. In December, she 'paused' for a substantial time, with EF Education-Oatly releasing her from her contract and Ewers moving back home to Idaho from a base in Spain.

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"I think I was a bit burned out by the end of 2025, and that was because I had been in such a contradictory state of trying to recover and trying to perform at the same time, and now also that I'm in a better mental space from taking time away," she told Cyclingnews this week.

"I mean, physically I'm still in the recovery process. I'm coming to the end of it, I think, and working with my dietitian Renee McGregor has been incredibly helpful. I've made a lot of headway in that front. And this opportunity kind of came at maybe not the most ideal time with my recovery, but ultimately was a positive experience."

Ewers joined US compatriots Heidi Franz and Caroline Wreszin at the camp from July 6-21 for "incredibly hard training" in the front range of the Colorado Rockies. Also on the St Michel squad is Canadian Alison Jackson, who was a teammate with Ewers during her two seasons at EF Education-Oatly and one year at the TIBCO team before it shut down after 2023.

Camp for the St Michel team, and for several guest riders including Ewers, took on the thin air and steep mountain roads, but also was about developing techniques for fueling and recovery that included collaborative time with Colorado University at Boulder. She said it was the most she had ridden a bike since last winter.

"This group of girls and being on the bike again and having fun on the bike really reminded me of my love for the sport and has really motivated me to continue this recovery process. Yeah, hopefully I'll get back out there on the bike in the WorldTour," Ewers admitted.

The 31-year-old rocketed onto the pro cycling scene five years ago when she was a rider for the US Pacific Northwest club team, Fount Cycling Guild. She went from podiums at the Tour of Walla Walla to a bronze medal at the USPro Road Race Nationals.

Her ride in Knoxville, Tennessee at US Road National Championships saw her almost out-sprint Coryn Rivera for second place, and she showed pure power against other proven riders including Kristen Faulkner, Leah Thomas and Taylor Wiles. Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank wasted no time in adding her to their roster, which featured USPro road winner Lauren Stephens and Faulkner.

She continued to use her prowess with climbing to rise rapidly, with success during two seasons at the WorldTour level, including a stage win and second on GC at Festival Elsy Jacobs in 2022. By 2023, she was on the podium at the Giro d'Italia Women and finished fourth overall. She called her second-place to winner Elisa Longo Borghini on stage 4 that year, sprinting ahead of Annemiek van Vleuten, a career highlight.

However, the signals of REDs were not easily detectable to the former collegiate soccer player who began racing in 2019. Now she's in tune with her body, and the camp was a successful "experiment".

"My numbers improved incredibly just within two weeks; I was a bit shocked. I mean, my VO2 improved by almost 10 units, which is pretty insane," Ewers said, clearly amazed by her tone.

"I'm coming from doing very, very little and joining this camp where the other ladies are at peak form right now. I was able to be there and not be harsh on myself. We would do some race simulations, and I was sticking in it.

"I think seeing that I took the time off that my body and my brain really needed, yeah, just shows that I have all of this capacity to get back to that top level at some point, and being in a healthier body is just gonna make me much stronger, both physically and mentally."

There was no time for celebration yet, as she still has more recovery, plus studies to continue for a Kinesiology master's degree. But she's ready to watch the Tour de France Femmes and see how her friends at St Michel do in this fifth edition.

"It's going to be so much more dynamic than the men's race."

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