Ladies Grace Verbeke counts down to the very first Tour de France Femmes for the Lotto Dstny Ladies: "We’re going to make our presence felt, not just to blend in."

The final kilometers on Belgian, Dutch, and Spanish soil are being completed, suitcases are being packed. The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is just around the corner and with a start in Rotterdam and a passage through Belgium, it’s only natural that our Lotto Dstny Ladies—as a Belgian team with a Dutch leader—are eagerly anticipating their very first Tour. It came as a complete surprise when CEO Stéphane Heulot delivered the good news at the end of April that the team was one of the 22 to receive a coveted yellow ticket. "I thought that as a continental team, we would just fall short", team leader Thalita de Jong said at the time.

But now the time has come. The Tour de France Femmes is truly upon us. Sports director Grace Verbeke will travel to Rotterdam with the Ladies this weekend. "With Thalita, we have a Dutch leader, and with Anna Van Wersch and Maureen Arens, we have two more Dutch women in the selection. Apart from the Finnish Wilma Aintila, the rest are Belgian. The fact that this Tour only heads to France after passing through the Netherlands and Belgium makes the experience even greater for us. We’ve already ridden the Vuelta this year, but the Tour is on another level."

Verbeke sees great opportunities for the young team. "I think we should definitely keep the options open for a good classification with Thalita. De Jong has a strong time trial, as we recently saw in the Baloise Ladies Tour, and that short time trial from Rotterdam on day two will certainly not hold her back, quite the opposite. She has proven that she can climb well and isn’t slow at the finish either."

"In fact, we can be competitive in every stage and put ourselves in the spotlight. The first stages are tailor-made for Van Wersch. Audrey De Keersmaeker and Fauve Bastiaenssen are perfect for breakaways, and Maureen Arens is a good climber. Aintila can compete for the white young rider’s jersey. We have a strong leader, and the others will mainly ride in support, but we will not hide ourselves. We’re going to the Tour to make our presence felt, not just to blend in."

The riders were given free rein in their preparation. Some sought warmer climates and headed to Spain, while others had a dress rehearsal in the Baloise Ladies Tour. "We learned a lot from the Vuelta and Baloise. Our women learned to fight even harder for their position, to communicate, and to trust each other as well. Those were good tryouts. We made a conscious choice to start here with a young team, and I’m very curious to see how everything will unfold."

Picture: PhotoNews