The rise of the women's team

In just under two months, the Women’s Tour de France will get underway in Lausanne. In the meantime, the Cofidis team continues to go from strength to strength after showing great promise since the start of the season. Here’s an update. 

There was a hint of the Women’s Tour de France in the air at the Alpes Grésivaudan Classic this Sunday, and the Cofidis team certainly did themselves proud – quite the opposite, in fact. At the finish line, Ema Comte took a podium place (3rd), just ahead of Julie Bego (4th). A remarkable performance for the two 21-year-old riders who have just completed their first year of study on two engineering courses, at Polytech for Julie and at INSA for Ema.  

“Ema is continuing to improve and has been showing consistent form since the Hypoxy training camp in April,”

 explains Mélanie Briot. The young athlete has finished in the top 10 five times, was best young rider at the Tour of the Basque Country and came 3rd in the general classification of the Bretagne Ladies Tour. 

“She is a composed, calm rider who listens and is very mature in her approach.” 

For her part, Julie Bego, who had long worn the white jersey at the Tour de France, “

is gradually regaining her performance level,”

 says Mélanie. 

“What we hope for above all is to secure victories”

 

The team’s sprinters are no slouches either. Amalie Dideriksen clinched a hard-fought victory at the Région Pays de la Loire Women’s Tour in early April. Valentine Fortin also came close to victory at the Classique Morbihan (3rd). “

Amalie had shown the way as early as the UAE Tour (3rd in stage 3) and we can see it’s working well,”

explains Mélanie. 

“The slight frustration is not managing to win more, as was the case at the Bretagne Ladies Tour where we secured two second places.

”    

In any case, the Cofidis team is proving ambitious and is taking its chances without hesitation in World Tour races. And the results are there, as shown by Nikola Noskova (11th in the UAE Tour general classification), Amalie Dideriksen (15th in Milan-San Remo) and Ema Comte (19th in the Tour of the Basque Country).  

“We have riders capable of finishing between 15th and 20th in World Tour races,”

 says Mélanie Briot. 

“But what we’re hoping for above all is to secure some victories.” 

“To be a force to be reckoned with at the Tour de France”

 

There will be plenty of opportunities starting this week with the CIC International Women’s Tour of the Pyrenees.

 “I hope we’ll have a great climb up the Tourmalet (Stage 2) and that we’ll manage to do well,”

 says the sports director. Next up is the Tour of Catalonia, another chance for the climbers to shine. It will also be an opportunity for Victoire Berteau to return to competition following her double fracture (elbow and knee), a much-anticipated comeback to build her form ahead of the French Championships. 

Gradually, the team will then turn its attention to the Tour de France Femmes, which starts in Lausanne on 1 August. What’s on the programme? 1,175 km to cover, 18,795 metres of climbing and three mountain ranges to cross (the Jura, the Massif Central and the Alps). At Cofidis, the objectives are clear:

 “The idea is to be key players in the race, launch breakaways, show off the jersey, and if we can reclaim the white jersey, we won’t pass it up!”

 The coaching staff will also use the coming weeks of competition to refine their selections for the final squad. 

At the same time, the women’s team has evolved since the start of the season in terms of its structure and its pursuit of performance. Two coaches are now dedicated to the team (Simon Girard and Arthur Rémond), as well as a nutritionist (Océane Bourdon), and all the riders benefit from the invaluable work of the mental coach, Soline Lamboley. “

In terms of support and guidance, we’ve reached a new level,”

 says Mélanie Briot. This means we can approach the rest of the season with a great deal of enthusiasm and motivation.