Rachel Neylan hasn’t had the easiest of paths in recent seasons after finding herself in a team that didn’t get off the ground as expected in 2020, which meant few chances to race at a time when she felt she was carrying the form of her life. However, now condition and opportunity are aligning with the Australian leading the charge for her new team, Cofidis, at the Tour de France Femmes.
“I put the work in these last months but I’ve also put the work in the last year and I’ve put the work in the last two years,” the resilient Australian told Cyclingnews in the days before the Tour de France Femmes. “I’ve had the most consistent, uninterrupted two year training period of my whole career, so I’ve sown the seeds and now I’m ready to reap the harvest.”
Of course, to reap that harvest on one of the biggest stages in the world, and at a key target race of the year for both Neylan and her French team, would be a dream outcome. The long-running men’s squad has been fighting the past three weeks to sweep up its first victory since 2008 at the Tour de France – with Simon Geschke heartbreakingly losing the climbers jersey on the final day in the mountains – but on Sunday July 24 the mantle will be handed over to the women’s team of Neylan, Martina Alzini, Victoire Berteau, Alana Castrique, Valentine Fortin and Sandra Levenez.
The general category in the eight-stage race to July 31 had been a goal for the squad initially, with Clara Koppenburg, but a crash at the Giro d’Italia Donne took her off the roster. That means stage results are now squarely the aim for both Neylan and the team.
“My objectives have always been focussed around stage opportunities. Obviously if things head in the right direction after stage 3 or 4 for the general classification, then of course I’m not going to lose time on purpose,” said Neylan. “But it’s such a dynamic Tour full of opportunity every single day that for me it’s more interesting to go for stage opportunities than for the overall.”
To tackle the Tour de France Femmes – which has four relatively flat stages interspersed with two hilly days before the finale of back-to-back mountain stages – Cofidis also has a solid sprint group that includes Martina Alzini, who was consistently in the top 20 of the Giro d’Italia Donne sprint stages. Still there is no doubt about the two days that really stand out for Neylan, as well as a number of other break hopefuls. They are the 133km stage 3 to Épernay and the 127km…
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