Ladies Sports Director Grace Verbeke looks back to a successful first Tour de France Femmes with the Lotto Dstny Ladies

“It was more than successful for us. We had the goal in the first place to show us, which we did. On the second stage already with Audrey (De Keersmaeker), who took the combativity award after a strong outing. Thalita (de Jong) took 3 top 10 spots, which eventually led to her fantastic top 10 in the general classification”

“It’s beautiful I think we wrote this story together. Thalita got all the space to prepare in the best way for the Tour, which she did perfectly. The Vuelta already went well and she made another step here in the Tour. It’s very beautiful to see, and a confirmation of her talent and hard working spirit. Now everything runs well for her, it’s nice to see she gets a reward.”

“Sadly covid was also present in the peloton. Mieke (Docx) was the first victim in our team, also Thalita tested covid positive when coming home. It’s very sad for Mieke, as she started the Tour well. Wilma (Aintila) fought very hard the last day on the queen stage to finish. She is still very young, but did her very best and went in the attack also one day. It's nice we finished our first Tour with six riders out of seven.”

“Anna (Van Wersch) surprised us, as she did really well on the climbs. She was up there very long with Thalita. Maureen (Arens) also did a good race, she became better every day and could also go a long time on the climbs. Fauve (Bastiaenssen) was made for the first stages to help Thalita, in the climbs she had a tough time but also this experience will make her stronger. The last stage was emotional, they all went full and then knowing you made it is very big. The atmosphere was nice, a good mix between riders and staff which resulted in a great week.”

Pictures: Brecht Steenhouwer