The conundrum of SD Worx’s peloton duties at the Tour de France Femmes

Stage 3 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift was expected to finish in a bunch sprint, one that would favour the likes of Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma), Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich) and of course, stage favourite Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx).

Heading into the day with the yellow jersey on the back of Wiebes’ superstar teammate, Lotte Kopecky, SD Worx would have been expected to place their riders at the front of the peloton to control the pace and bring back any potential breakaway before the finish in Montignac-Lascaux - thereby teeing up Wiebes for an opportunity at the stage win.

Alas, SD Worx continued to shun such duties and fearing that they may miss out on an a chance for their sprinters, dsm-firmenich, AG Insurance-Soudal QuickStep and Canyon-SRAM shared the majority of the work in closing the gap to lone attacker, Julie Van De Velde (Fenix-Deceuninck).

For new fans to the wonderful world of the Women’s WorldTour - with its unpredictable racing, gung-ho attacks and empowerment of women’s sport - the idea of a team with both the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift yellow jersey and the stage favourite not pulling on the front of the peloton seems a peculiar one. But welcome to women’s cycling, where the often archaic unwritten rules of men’s cycling often don’t apply.

The unwritten rule that has developed over generations in the men’s peloton is that the team with the yellow jersey should control the pace of the peloton unless the stage clearly favours a different kind of rider - such as a sprinter. This is a practical idea, because the team with the yellow jersey will not want to see the race lead leave their shoulders, whilst a team with the stage favourite will have ample motivation to ensure the peloton contests the stage win at the end of the day.

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Pfeiffer Georgi of dsm-firmenich looks to SD Worx for help, an often futile task

As the Women’s WorldTour’s super-team, SD Worx routinely head into stages with both the leader’s jersey and stage favourite, but time and time again, they shy away from sending their riders to the front of the peloton, thereby pressuring the other teams to work and burn the reserves of their riders in such efforts. Time and time again, this benefits SD Worx’s superstar fleet of riders, who have saved their energy and put this to good effect at the finish - Lorena Wiebes’ stage 3 victory was their 50th win of the 2023 season.

SD Worx had the stage favourite in the 24-year-old, but refused to commit to a prolonged chase of Van De Velde, leaving the teams of Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich) and Lotta Henttala (AG Insurance-Soudal QuickStep) with a conundrum. Either they send their riders to the front of the peloton to chase down the breakaway, and in doing so weaken their lead-out should a sprint take place, or they also refuse to work and in all likelihood, the chance of a sprint finish dwindles.

In this case, dsm-firmenich and AG Insurance-Soudal QuickStep decided to accept SD Worx’s refusal to conform, and carried the burden themselves of pacing the peloton. Alleviated from the energy expended in the chase, SD Worx ultimately produced a perfect lead-out for the eventual winner, Wiebes, whilst the other sprinters were left in the favourite’s wake.

This leaves us pondering the question, why do the other teams not take a hard line with SD Worx? If they want to sprint with Wiebes, should it not be SD Worx who carry the burden of pacing the peloton?

Stage 3 leaves analysts scratching their heads as dsm-firmenich bears the load

With Julie Van De Velde up the road with a handsome advantage swelling above two minutes at points on stage 3, those with their hearts set on a sprint finish at the end of the day knew that a coordinated chase would need to be deployed by the peloton in order to squash the dreams of Van De Velde and bring the peloton first to the line.

“SD [Worx] started riding but very quickly stopped,” laughed dsm-firmenich’s Pfeiffer Georgi, not without an air of frustration. “We had confidence in Charlotte [Kool], so we took it up. I spoke to [SD Worx], they said they weren’t going to ride, so… we took it upon ourselves.”

However, dsm-firmenich sprinter Charlotte Kool could only manage seventh, as Wiebes stormed to her first victory of the race. Hamstrung by the burden of pulling on the front, dsm-firmenich failed to produce their usual textbook lead-out for Kool and this no doubt played a part in the Dutchwoman failing to make her mark on the stage finale - leaving former pro Chloe Hosking to post a witty metaphor on Twitter.

Georgi would usually be an important cog in positioning Kool for a devastating sprint in the final kilometre, a tactic the team successfully deployed to see Kool beat Wiebes at the UAE Tour earlier in the season, but Georgi’s legs had to be spent much earlier in order to reduce the gap to Van De Velde.

In contrast, SD Worx had enjoyed a relatively easier day in the saddle and with their riders only having to face the wind in the closing kilometres, Lotte Kopecky delivered Wiebes into the final few hundred metres, where her devastating sprint was able to see off the challenge from Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma).

Should the peloton call SD Worx’s bluff?

It must be acknowledged that whilst dsm-firmenich did the majority of the work in reducing the lead of Julie Van De Velde, the gap hovered around 30 seconds for 10km prior to SD Worx finally sending the likes of Marlen Reusser and Elena Cecchini to the front and producing the decisive turns that dealt heartbreak to Van De Velde in the final kilometre.

However, that is not to excuse the prior 50km, where SD Worx - by their own admission - refused to contribute any help to aid the ambitions of their own sprinter, Wiebes.

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Without the eventual help of Marlen Reusser and her SD Worx teammates, Julie Van De Velde would have taken a remarkable victory

“We always believed [we would sprint for the win], we felt it was not really up to us to start the chase because we still have some hard days to go and we want to avoid the girls going full-out,” admitted Wiebes after her stage win. “dsm-firmenich did the chase and then we helped towards the end when we felt it was really necessary.”

It is funny to hear Wiebes support her claims that SD Worx needn’t work because their riders have hard days coming up, as though the other teams aren’t riding the exact same route and equally weighing up multiple ambitions. Just as SD Worx have objectives both in the sprints and mountains - with Wiebes and Demi Vollering, respectively - dsm-firmenich will be eyeing up the same goals with Kool and Juliette Labous.

Through Kool, dsm-firmenich believe they have a sprinter who can beat Wiebes at her own game, hence why they were desperate to see stage 3 end in a sprint. Although SD Worx do have the favourite and should therefore be expected to work, dsm-firmenich are not resigned to defeat and took up the vacant role at the front of the peloton to ensure that Kool could fight for the stage win at the end. Sadly for them, although a sprint did ensue, it was not Kool who benefitted from the hard yards spent chasing by her team.

Of course, for as long as SD Worx can get away without contributing to the efforts of the peloton and keep enjoying the rewards of their wily racecraft, more power to them - criticism laid at their team bus would be criticism wrongly distributed. Instead, this intrepid writer is of the opinion that the other teams should simply call their bluff.

The view of this armchair sports director

For too long, SD Worx have been allowed a free pass from the other teams when it comes to distributing the task of pacing the peloton, thereby only reinforcing their ability to shun what would otherwise be their responsibility. If the Dutch team want to win the sprint through Wiebes - the overwhelming favourite in such a finish, by the way - then they should be forced to press the pace on the front of the peloton in order to catch the breakaway.

When push comes to shove, the final kilometres of stage 3 are evidence that SD Worx would rather expend the energy of their domestiques and close down the breakaway, than see a sprinting opportunity for Wiebes go amiss. Only, their bluff was called not by the other teams making a stand, but by Julie Van De Velde producing an extraordinary ride to hold off the chase by dsm-firmenich.

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As the best sprinter in the world, should it not be the responsibility of Lorena Wiebes’ teammates to control the breakaway?

In the future, the likes of dsm-firmenich, Jumbo-Visma and AG Insurance - Soudal Quick-Step should resist the temptation to let SD Worx have their cake and eat it. If they don’t make a stand and refuse to pull at the front of the peloton, sooner rather than later, SD Worx will begrudgingly begin to accept what should have been their responsibility in the first place.

Perhaps this will result in a stage where the breakaway takes an unexpected victory and the likes of Kool and Henttala are left without the chance of beating Wiebes in a sprint, but it will teach SD Worx an important lesson. They will know that the lesser favoured teams are not always going to be pressured into burning their own matches to put out fires that should be the responsibility of the Dutch outfit.

SD Worx have the biggest budget in the Women’s WorldTour, the best riders in the world and routinely dominate the sport, and yet they shirk the responsibilities that come with such standing. It is high time the other teams make a stand and send the message to SD Worx: if they want to sprint with Wiebes, their riders will have to work in order to catch the breakaway.