'Pauline will be on the same level or better; we are only focused on ourselves' – Inside FDJ United-Suez and Demi Vollering's preparation, mindset and ambitions for the Tour de France Femmes

The Tour de France Femmes is only a few days away now, but the training and preparation have been going on for months.

For FDJ United-Suez, the mission to win their home Grand Tour started as soon as it came into existence, and ramped up a notch when they signed former winner Demi Vollering for 2025.

The Dutch rider had to settle for second on her debut for the French squad, but the rebuild for 2026 began practically as soon as the 2025 race finished, and she and her team will head to Lausanne this year with refreshed motivation and after a refined run-in to the biggest goal of the year.

With the level of the peloton only rising higher every year, FDJ perhaps have their biggest challenge yet this year against riders like Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Marlen Reusser and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, but they might just have their strongest team yet, too.

Alongside Vollering, who has won prolifically in 2026, including the Giro d'Italia Women, the team can boast Paris-Roubaix winner Franziska Koch and French champion Célia Gery among their ranks, as well as stalwart climbing domestiques Juliette Berthet and Évita Muzic, who could also be Grand Tour leaders in their own right.

It's a collective of riders FDJ have come to rely on – because it works – and their build-up to the Tour has been about mixing lessons learnt from last year with confidence in the formula they know to be successful, and that they hope can deliver Vollering to the yellow jersey she's been so motivated to reclaim since 2023.

To get the inside line on just how the team have constructed their assault on the yellow jersey, we caught up with team manager Stephen Delcourt, whilst his riders were on altitude camp in Tignes, to talk preparation, lessons from 2025, rivals and more ahead of the Tour. Here is that conversation.

Cyclingnews: We know your line-up now, and a lot of the riders are coming to the Tour after slightly different programmes compared to last year. Can you tell us how everyone has been preparing for the race?

Stephen Delcourt: We learnt a lot about last season. It was an amazing season for the team, but we want every time to improve. We changed the programme of Demi first. After the Giro, she stopped racing; she didn't do the Tour de Suisse. It was hard for her to accept that decision, but we wanted to finish with this special victory on the last stage of the Giro. It was good mentally to finish with this victory, especially with the way that we won. No Tour de Suisse, no Nationals, because last year she was sick after the Tour de Suisse and she crashed at the Nationals, so now she has more time – we have one week more because the Tour de France is pushed back by one week. She arrived in Tignes, and we did a three-week training camp in Tignes, with a fresh mind and fresh body, and she can really focus on the main goal.

We play differently because we learned a lot from last year; this is season two also for Demi. Evita was sick over the winter; it was really hard for her. She came back with really good May months. She was step-by-step better in the Vuelta. She finished really well in the Vuelta a Burgos. She finished second at the top of Lagunas de Neila. Now she's mentally ready to come back at the top level, and the same for Juliette.

CN: Obviously, the team training camp is really important physically, but what about mentally? Demi has spoken before about team bonding and understanding each other; how important is that element when it comes to training and racing?

SD: In 2025 we created a group together, and we kept a big part of that group for 2026, we just put Franziska into the group, and we work like this. We add value: human value but, physical and skills value also, and that is the key. I think FDJ United-Suez 2026 is a more mature group if you compare it to 2025.

At the training camp, we really want the riders to keep the team mindset and spend time together off the bike too. For example, for this training camp, we also accept that the boyfriends can visit them for a few days there. Because you know now, for a rider like Demi, she has spent maybe four periods in attitude during the season. If you look at the number of days away, at training camp, attitude camp, media camp, we really want to be really careful about this part. We really want to protect the private life of Demi and the other riders too.

CN: What are the specific things, particularly about the Tour, that you've learned over the last year and want to take into this year's race or do differently?

SD: It's mainly about the preparation and to be sure that Demi and the group are all fresh. Last year we had a really amazing collective; we saw that we won the team classification. But it's more about the gap that we have with the others. Pauline was on another planet, and we expect that Pauline will be on the same level or better this year, so we just want to work on ourselves and how we can close this gap, individually with Demi and with the group. For that, we decided to arrive with less races. We raced really less than last year, but in fact, we won more. I don't know if there is a link.

We really want to change something about the details of the preparation, but keep the same mindset that all the staff is really dedicated to this group. The Tour de France is the main goal, but we are a family. We work together, we launch a new jersey for the Tour de France, we have a new bike. We want to be the best, and we work on all the details. But last year was good, eh? So we don't change it all. It's not a revolution, it's an evolution.

CN: Does it help that Demi and the team have taken so many big goals already this season? Maybe you don't have to worry about winning a stage, for example, you can have the singular goal of GC.

SD: For the mindset, yes, but it's good to not be too confident also. What's really important is that we won a lot of races, with different riders, but with always the same spirit. We are able to lose, we are able to play all or nothing, but when we arrive in the final, we go for it.

CN: What's behind that success this year? Mindset is a big thing, but also you have a skill for recruiting really talented riders.

SD: That is one part, but it's how the staff works; that's the key also. Everybody in my staff is really dedicated to work for the collective, to work for the FDJ United-Suez brand. The institution is the only leader – it's not Demi, it's not any rider, it's just the institution and how we work, on the marketing side, performance side, sports side is always the same, regardless of the riders we have. We put the institution first. I'm not the main person of the team, we work collectively.

CN: At the Tour, obviously Pauline will be a huge favourite, but the team have had much fewer opportunities to race against her compared to riders like Elisa Longo Borghini, Marlen Reusser and Anna van der Breggen, who Demi has faced a lot. Does knowing less about her form and her level affect you going into the race and how you approach it?

SD: No, because we prepare ourselves to be at the top, top level for us. We know that Pauline will arrive on the same level like last year, she will be really prepared, she's a pure talent and an omnidiscipline legend of our sport, and we anticipate a big level from her. But we never forget riders like Antonia Niedermaier, Paula Blasi – she's a main contender for us, for sure UAE will work for Elisa also.

We also need to be careful of Marlen, she will be fresh because doesn't race a lot, and it's a really good parcours for Marlen. We know that also riders like Kim Le Court will arrive really fresh, and the first part is really really good for her. I think she will want to be in yellow early, and we know that when a rider is in yellow, she has a special power on her shoulders.

I think it's an exciting Tour de France because we can put five, six names on the podium. We also never forget Kasia Niewiadoma, she was really, really strong in the Tour de Suisse. I don't know about the influence of the transfer market, because we know that Kasia will leave Canyon, we know Paula Blasi is in talks about a transfer. We don't know the impact of all things like this. So for us, we are only focused on ourselves, to arrive with the best shape, with the best staff, with the best collective, and the best materials.

CN: Regarding the route, one big difference from last year is the time trial. How do you think that will affect the racing?

SD: There are two things about that. For me, it's impossible to have a Grand Tour without a TT or a TTT – we need something. If it's a Grand Tour, it needs to be complete. The Vuelta for me was not a Grand Tour this year because we had only seven days and no TT, and if there was a TT, we would have had a different podium. The TT in Dijon will be a really special TT; it's long and really beautiful. You need to have power, you need to have skills, you need to be able to put a lot of power on the climb and on the downhill. It's a really beautiful place in France, and that is also really important: that we are in places where you have history and culture, and we want to create memories.

I think the [overall] parcours is really beautiful. For me it's not good that we have only one finish line on the top [of a climb], we need two minimum. I know it's hard to always have a parcours like this, but I push. If we can have 10 days one day, that will be better. Now with the move to another week, they are more space and time, so I really hope for 2028 we can have 10 days.

CN: Yes, we've seen from the Vuelta and Giro that even if these races aren't longer, they absolutely can and must have those big, long climbs on the course.

SD: The Giro was really perfect. Not because we won, and it wasn't a perfect Giro for us – we lost the TT with a big gap to Anna van der Breggen – but the route was nearly perfect. I always want more. I told RCS we want one more hilly stage, because it was either flat or sprint for Balsamo and Wiebes, or it was a mountain, so we need hilly in between. In this Tour de France, there are more hilly stages, but we miss one mountaintop finish. OK, Nice is a mountain stage, but it's better to finish at the top of a climb.

But I can't complain about ASO – what they've done for women's cycling is amazing, and if now we have 52 employees on this team, it's because ASO have given us the opportunity to have this race with Paris-Roubaix, and for my sponsors also because we have the visibility of these races. I can't complain, but it is good in high-level sport to always want more, to expect more for women's cycling.

CN: You mentioned transfers earlier, and Demi's contract extension has been secured until 2028, which must feel good, but was there any doubt over whether she might stay or go?

SD: No, we never have doubted about Demi. We spoke since just before the Tour de France last year, we started to talk about the future. It was really obvious then that we wanted to work together for the future, so it was just about putting it all in a contract. There's always a negotiation, because Demi is more than just a rider, she's an athlete and a brand, so it was normal to have a long negotiation. But in fact everybody was always aligned that we wanted to work together; there was no stress. It was better to build the season with her, for her, and that's where success is. We extended early also Celia and Elise, and that was also really important.

CN: One final thing, we've spoken about partnerships and sponsorships before, and we've heard a lot this year about what you might have in the works for the future. Is there any news on that front that we can expect for the Tour or in the coming months?

SD: You know, we've signed a new partner every month this year, I think, small and medium partners. What is important is that we've signed the naming contract with FDJ United and Suez until 2028, we extended the contract with Specialized and Shimano, and we are really close to extending the contract with Gobik also. I think that is the best reply, but we are always open to meet sponsors and partners, to grow. For the moment, everybody expects a lot of things from all sides, but we are in July, we work every day. Just this afternoon I have a meeting with possible nutrition partners, so for sure if there is an opportunity, we want to be the best.

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