Rouleur #137

Description

Demi Vollering: The Balancing Act

Signing for a new team, becoming a Nike athlete, being the favourite for yellow at this year’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift – it’s an exciting time to be Demi Vollering. At home in Switzerland, the Dutch rider tells Rouleur how she manages to keep a level head with the expectation of the world on her shoulders.

The Greatest Race Ever

The final stage of last year’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift saw one of the most exciting and engaging finishes of a Grand Tour in memory. After a historic battle on L’Alpe d’Huez between Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma, the Canyon//SRAM rider eventually secured the yellow jersey by just four seconds – the closest winning Tour margin ever. The scene at the summit of the fabled climb was filled with emotion: visceral joy for Niewiadoma and tragic heartbreak for Vollering. Every person who was there that day witnessed a piece of history, and a seismic moment in women’s cycling. Rouleur hears the stories of those who watched the destiny of a race that spanned 950 kilometres being decided in the final few metres.

Girls Allowed
A new documentary film, Breakaway Femmes, covers the largely untold and extraordinary story of the Tour de France Féminin, a women’s race which ran alongside the men’s Tour for six years during the 1980s. Rouleur looks at one of the great missed opportunities for bike racing.

Kim Le Court: All or Nothing
After just two years in the WorldTour, Kim Le Court has shot to stardom, taking her biggest win so far at Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes earlier this season. She tells Rouleur about her journey from humble beginnings and almost losing it all to reaching the very top of her game, but also how she is determined to put Mauritius on the global sporting map.

Women are not Small Men

Most training programmes are designed to ensure peak performance… for men. But women have very different needs, and the cycling and fitness industries are only just waking up to this.

Ride on, in Iraq

There is cycling everywhere, if you know where to look. Rouleur meets the Iraqi National Women’s Cycling team, a team of ambitious riders who are daring to dream of a bike racing future.

High and Mighty

The Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées is an up-and-coming race on the women’s calendar, pitting the peloton against some of the sport’s greatest climbs, along with an imaginative parcours which brings out the riders’ attacking nature. We take a pictorial look at a modern race in a quintessentially traditional setting.

Ultra Women

Female participation in ultra-cycling events is comparatively low. Rouleur looks at some of the events which are trying to do something about it and make the discipline a more equitable space.