With this year’s Tour de France Femmes, a “real” Tour de France for the cycling ladies is back in the Women’s Worldtour for the first time in a generation (arguably two).
With eight stages, starting at the Eiffel Tower on Sunday, 1029 km to complete, with plenty of tough climbs and a total prize pool of €250,000. The Tour de France Femmes is one of the 2022 season’s most spectacular competitions.
Julia Borgström, a professional in the AG Insurance-NXTG Team is the only Swedish rider on the starting list this year. The 21-year-old from Skåne has had an impressive start to the Worldtour year with several top-20 places and eighth place in RideLondon Classique at the end of May as the highlight – so far.
Julia Borgström’s thoughts about the 2022 Tour de France Femmes
“It will be a fantastic experience. The team expects that I will do the absolute best I can at every stage. And I will
really try to live up toI’m very surprised myself. That it would go this well was nothing I believed in at the beginning of the season. But all the puzzle pieces seem to have ended up in place and my self-confidence has received a real boost. When you enjoy life, it usually goes well on the bike too.
“But I look forward to eight wonderful competition days. It feels a little nervous but the anxieties I had at the beginning of this year’s competitions are gone. Now I will do the best I can and at the same time enjoy that competition.”
Julia Borgström to vargardacycling.se.
How far can things can go against favourites like Annemiek van Vleuten, Elisa Longo Borghini and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig remains to be seen. But it’s probably realistic to temper expectations, other than maybe a high placing in the youth white jersey. The parcours does give Borgström a chance for some strong positions and maybe the odd day in the break too.
Main photo credit: Bastien Gason
