'Fans see my country and remember what is happening' – Yuliia Biriukova flies the flag for Ukraine at Tour de France Femmes

With world and European champions lining up at the Tour de France Femmes alongside 14 national champions from around the world, this year's race has been a colourful affair.

Kim Le Court-Pienaar's vibrant Mauritian champion's jersey has stood out among them, and Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi's dazzling design has also caught the eye. One of the Basque squad's riders has stood out for different reasons, however, with Yuliia Biriukova bringing Ukrainian colours to the Tour for the first time.

Biriukova returned to the Tour this summer, four years on from her race debut with Arkéa, and has been in the breakaway, going on the attack earlier in the week on the road to Geneva. She's completing a personal goal this week, too, on course to make the finish in Nice after missing out in 2022 by falling outside the time cut on Le Markstein.

But this year's Tour hasn't been just about the racing for the 28-year-old, who in June won both Ukraine's national road and time trial titles for the second year in succession.

"It's really important because I'm really happy to go with this jersey when a lot of people see it," Biriukova told Cyclingnews earlier in the Tour.

"We're at the biggest race in the world. The fans see my country, remember my country, and remember what is happening in my country."

What Biriukova is referring to, of course, is Russia's invasion of her home country, and the ongoing war.

"It's really difficult because every day you have a lot of news about it, and yes, I lost some people from my family, and it's been really difficult. It's a really hard time for us," she said.

Biriukova, racing her second year at Laboral Kutxa after spells at Human Powered Health and UAE Development Team, is based in Italy and spends the racing season travelling Europe and further afield.

This season she's raced at the Tour El Salvador, the Ardennes Classics, and both La Vuelta Femenina and the Giro d'Italia Women, making this her third Grand Tour of the year.

Along with the ongoing war at home, which shows no sign of ending, it all means that Biriukova rarely gets to see her family. Biriukova's mother left Ukraine to live in Bulgaria, while her brother is among those fighting Russia on the frontlines in eastern Ukraine.

"Usually I see my family just one time per year, in the off-season," she told Cyclingnews, while she told Le Progrès that "This year, I was only able to spend a few hours with my family – not even a whole day."

Restrictions on travel also make keeping in touch and travelling around tougher too, with no flights leaving or entering the country.

"It's super hard to travel because we don't have flights from Ukraine. We just have, maximum, from Poland or another country like Hungary, but it's far away," Biriukova said, adding that the resulting long travel times have an effect on athletes travelling to race and compete.

"You need to first go by bus for around 10 hours, sometimes more, depending on how it is at the border. Then you have to wait for the flight, then fly, so it's really difficult for athletes after two days of hard travel to get results in competition."

Although sporting events naturally take a back seat during wartime, international federations including the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are easing sanctions on Russia, even as the occupation continues with no end in sight.

In July, the IOC announced that it had provisionally lifted its near-three-year suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) after the ROC removed regional sports bodies in occupied Ukrainian territories from its membership.

Several other sporting federations have lifted their own Russian bans, while in cycling the UCI has upheld its ban on Russian teams while lifting restrictions on neutral Belarusian teams and riders.

"I feel it's impossible," Biriukova said of the easing of sanctions from the IOC and others, including World Aquatics.

"When one country makes war, to then show this country at competition with a flag is impossible.

"If we do it like this since the war started, and still now the war is not finished, why in this moment are they starting to change it?"

Support our unrivalled coverage of the Tour de France Femmes and women's cycling by subscribing to Cyclingnews. In return, you get unlimited access to high-quality journalism, with breaking news, race analysis, and expert insight from inside the women's peloton. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.