Team dsm-firmenich PostNL

This Dutch team started out in 2011 as the women’s branch of the men’s WorldTour team. Throughout their history, dsm-firmenich PostNL has built a reputation for developing young riders, often signing talented riders straight out of the junior ranks. Many of the riders that have gone through dsm-firmenich’s system have enjoyed great success in the sport, including Floortje Mackaij, Coryn Labecki and most recently, Lorena Wiebes. 

The team lost some of their biggest stars, like Wiebes and Liane Lippert, at the end of 2022, but they still have the likes of top-five finisher at the Tour de France Femmes and Giro Donne Juliette Labous, sprinter Charlotte Kool and Classics riders Pfeiffer Georgi and Megan Jastrab in their ranks. 

Young talent and development remains a focus for the team in 2024, with several riders going into only their second pro years, but they've also welcome Rachele Barbieri, Josie Nelson and Abi Smith, who bring some more WorldTour experience and a diversification of talent.

Sprinting and Classics with Kool and her support riders will remain a focus, but the ever-promising Juliette Labous will also hope to improve on her Giro podium finish in 2024.

Juliette Labous

Pfeiffer Georgi

Charlotte Kool

Nienke Vinke

Francesca Barale

Rachele Barbieri

Eglantine Rayer

Franziska Koch

Josie Nelson

Megan Jastrab

Eleonora Ciabocco

Esmee Peperkamp

Becky Storrie

Abi Smith

Daniek Hengeveld

Elise Uijen

Maeve Plouffe

Anna van der Meiden

Racing

Analysis

dsm-firmenich Team Talk: Youth-first approach continues to reap rewards with bright future ahead

dsm-firmenich's youth-first policy led to more success in 2023

 entered 2023 off the back of the most successful season in its history. Buoyed by the virtually unbeatable 

, the Dutch outfit amassed 26 wins in 2022, 16 of which were at WorldTour level. Most of the other teams in the Women’s WorldTour watched on with envy as they glided up the UCI rankings, eventually finishing as the third-best team behind 

Lidl-Trek Team Talk: The future is bright, but was 2023 disappointing?

Fast forward 12 months and the team has dropped four places to seventh in the rankings after a season which, on paper at least, shows a decline in wins. Seasons are often defined by victories, but a cursory glance at the win column doesn’t provide a fair representation of dsm-firmenich’s season.

Having lost the guaranteed wins of Wiebes, who left for pastures new at SD Worx, the team once again turned to its conveyor belt of young talent to fill the race-winning void. Completing this transition was always going to be difficult, but in 

, the team found its next big sprint star, while 

’s Classics performances inspired hope which may soon verge on expectation.

This youthful approach will continue in 2024, but the team will hope that it can spread wins out more evenly to avoid relying too heavily on Kool, who currently shoulders a heavy burden.

Matching or bettering their 2022 success in 2023 would be difficult in normal circumstances, except dsm-firmenich would have to do it without Lorena Wiebes. The Dutch star’s 22-win haul - accounting for the vast majority of dsm-firmenich’s 26 wins in 2022 - was deservedly rewarded with a transfer to SD Worx. It was a major coup for the Dutch team but left a gaping hole in dsm-firmenich’s seemingly blunted attack.

The team also bid farewell to two more of its experienced riders. Both 

 linked up together at Movistar, leaving dsm-firmenich looking decipherably short on experience as well as race winners.

Rather than looking outward for star signings, the team usually looks inward for new talent. They’ve become one of the best teams at plucking top young riders before developing them into team leaders, and that route paid dividends once again from the outset in 2023.

Early outings didn’t return any success, but things stepped up a gear at the UAE Tour where Charlotte Kool made her season debut. The Dutch star was previously a key cog in Wiebes' lead-out but stepped up to be the main sprinter. It was a large burden to carry with big shoes to fill, but Kool dispelled any concerns in the UAE, beating Wiebes in two of the three sprints.

Those wins didn’t dry up. By the end of May Kool had picked up five more wins, starting on stage 2 of 

 (Jumbo-Visma) to claim the team’s only Grand Tour stage win of the season.

A one-day victory at ZLM Omloop der Kempen followed, before she scored a hat-trick of wins at the 

, triumphing on stages 1 and 3 to take the overall victory. It could have been a clean sweep of stage wins but her stage 2 efforts were derailed by a crash just before the flamme rouge. While she wasn’t quite matching Wiebes’ 2022 strike rate, Kool’s wins were keeping dsm-firmenich’s win rate ticking over at a healthy rate.

Like the previous season, dsm-firmenich were flying thanks to their star sprinter, but there were signs that the team’s youth-orientated approach was paying dividends. 

 - only 19 at the time - displayed her climbing abilities on stage 4 of 

Setmana Ciclista-Volta Comunitat Valenciana Fèmines

 to emerge victorious from a large breakaway.

Over in the Classics, Pfeiffer Georgi was the star of the show, winning the Classic Brugge-De Panne. One-off results can spark hope, but the 23-year-old Brit’s impressive consistency may soon lead to race-winning expectations as she backed that up with top-10 finishes at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Strade Bianche, Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift and the Amstel Gold Race. A further win at Dwars door de Westhoek will have sparked plenty of excitement in the team, not least because she crossed the line alongside teammates 

 and Kool in an impressive clean sweep of the podium. Not finished there, Georgi ended the season on a high with another one-day win at Binche-Chimay-Binche pour Dames.

Those victories punctuated Kool’s success as the Dutch star continued her race-winning ways throughout the rest of the season. A strong showing at the Baloise Belgium Tour returned four wins before she ended the season as she started, beating Wiebes twice at the Simac Ladies Tour. One of those came in the prologue, which is becoming one of the most potent weapons in Kool’s arsenal, before she proved too powerful for her former teammate in the stage 3 sprint.

While 17 wins across the season was a drop on their 2022 tally, dsm-firmenich had successfully filled the void left by Wiebes, but another noticeable hole developed at stage races. Beyond Kool’s sprint victories, Uijen was the only rider to triumph at a stage race for the team, although the win column once again doesn't tell the full story with 

 proving to be one of the most consistent performers at the Grand Tours.

The Frenchwoman was runner-up at the Giro d'Italia Donne, albeit nearly four minutes behind winner 

 (Movistar), before she came close to taking a podium spot at the Tour de France Femmes, finishing fifth.

In Kool, Georgi and Labous, the team had a solid core which was capable of competing on most fronts. They were ably backed by the team’s strong contingent of young talent who had another year to hone their skills. 

Following the loss of Wiebes, 2023 could have been a tricky year to navigate for the team, but all things considered, it has to be considered another success for the team, although they need to back that up in 2024.

Maybe a bit generous considering the dip in victories from the previous season, but that was always going to be unavoidable after losing a rider of Lorena Wiebes’ pedigree. In judging the team’s season, it’s best to turn a blind eye to the victories column - which is still better than most - and focus on the team’s continued ability to find new talent from within its roster, rather than making high-profile signings. It’s a policy dsm-firmenich has become very good at and they should continue to reap the rewards over the coming seasons.

Dsm-firmenich’s Top Five in 2024

Unlike last season, dsm-firmenich has kept hold of its star riders for 2024, so there’s a strong degree of continuity.

Most of their transfer dealings are once again centred around youth, with the Dutch team raiding the increasingly large well of British talent by signing duo 

, both 21. Smith joins from EF Education-TIBCO-SVB where she’s already built WorldTour experience, while Nelson has also been a regular name on WorldTour startlists over the last three seasons with Team Coop-Hitec Products.

dsm-firmenich bolster squad with arrival of Rachele Barbieri, Abi Smith and Josie Nelson

 bucks the youth trend, although at 26 she’s hardly an old-timer. Joining from Liv Racing TeqFind, the Italian will bring experience, although she’s unlikely to provide too many victories having only taken two pro wins to date.

Léa Curinier headlines the departees as she makes the move to a French team, FDJ-SUEZ, but overall, dsm-firmenich’s squad remains largely intact from 2023.

Where dsm-firmenich’s wins will come in 2024

Hardly the million-dollar question, it’s clear that dsm-firmenich’s fortunes in 2024 will once again gravitate around Charlotte Kool. Lorena Wiebes is still the best sprinter in the world but Kool landed enough blows in 2023 to show that her former teammate is fallible. Kool has the potential to close the gap further in 2024 and should pocket a decent collection of victories along the way.

In the form of Juliette Labous, the team also has a dependable Grand Tour performer. The Frenchwoman has been one of the most consistent stage racers in recent seasons, although this consistency hasn’t yet converted to regular wins. Still only 25, it’s surely only a matter of time before Labous takes an overall win at a stage race. As a minimum, an improvement on 2023’s winless season should be achievable.

Tour de France Femmes 2024: can anyone beat Demi Vollering to a second victory?

That still leaves a high dependency on Kool. Cycling can be a perilous sport and it only takes one crash to leave a rider sidelined for a month or more. It’s risky placing your hopes so singly around one rider, but that’s the situation dsm-firmenich have been in for the last two seasons. While it hasn’t let them down yet, there were shoots of potential in 2023 to suggest that more of their young riders could step up to shoulder some of the race-winning burden.

Pfeiffer Georgi became a source of one-day victories in 2023 and could improve on her three wins, while 

 and Elise Uijen have both shown that they can win races.

In a team whose oldest rider is only 26, it’s no surprise that dsm-firmenich is awash with potential. The team’s biggest stars, Charlotte Kool and Juliette Labous, are only 24 and 25 respectively. Even the great Classics hope, Pfeiffer Georgi, is 23.

To find the team’s next breakout rider, we have to plunge to the tender age of 21 and to someone who has the potential to be the next product of the team’s seemingly endless conveyor belt of sprint talent: Megan Jastrab.

The young American is a former junior world champion with plenty of potential and was a key part of Kool’s leadout train in 2023. A fourth place at the Classic Brugge-De Panne, second at Gent-Wevelgem and two top-10 finishes at the Giro Donne show that, when given the opportunity, the young star has the potential to challenge for wins.

What do you think about dsm-firmenich’s 2023 season? Did the team underperform after 2022’s highs or can it be considered a success? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Vuelta Femenina: 6 rising stars to watch

 gets underway this Sunday, 28 April with eight days of racing making up the first Grand Tour of the year. The challenging route between Valencia and Valdesquí includes sprinting, a team time trial, punchy finishes, and plenty of tough climbing.

The main focus will, of course, be the battle for the red jersey, where 

 (Canyon-SRAM) are expected to be the favourites duking it out in the mountains. There’s also a brewing sprint duel between 

 (Visma-Lease a Bike), plus plenty of strong opportunists chasing stage wins.

La Vuelta Femenina 2024 – essential race preview

However, outside of the big names, Grand Tours also offer a crucial chance for young or upcoming riders to test themselves over several days of racing. In recent times, many of the peloton’s best young riders had their breakthrough in Grand Tours – Realini in the Giro, Ricarda Bauernfeind and Yara Kastelijn in the 

 – because there’s a chance every day to put in a big ride, or for the peloton to let a break survive.

In this year’s Vuelta, there are plenty of riders hoping to emulate the likes of Realini and Bauernfeind and show themselves on the biggest stage. Here are six of the names you should be looking out for next week in Spain.

Joining dsm-firmenich straight out of the juniors in 2023, last year was fairly quiet for Nienke Vinke, but she really burst onto the stage racing scene at the start of 2024 when she claimed second overall at the Tour Down Under, climbing to second behind Sarah Gigante on Willunga Hill. Though she wasn’t a name known to many at the time, it wasn’t a total surprise, with the 19-year-old picking up seventh overall at last year’s Tour de l’Avenir Femmes, clearly proving her climbing proficiency. At the Vuelta, Vinke will make her Grand Tour debut as part of the team assembled around Juliette Labous and Charlotte Kool. Though the leaders’ respective GC and sprint ambitions will be central, there are lots of climbing days in this race, and they won’t all be won by the GC riders. If Vinke can get in the right move, she’ll be a real favourite for a top result, or in any case, a chance to show the world how good she is.

Vuelta Femenina: Ranking the GC contenders

Mareille Meijering is the oldest rider on this list, at 29, but is definitely still a rising star, having raced at a lower level in the Netherlands before bursting onto the WorldTour scene last year. Her start in the pro peloton was a little tumultuous – she joined the Zaaf team – but she was picked up by Movistar in the middle of last year and has already shone for them, securing herself a contract through to the end of 2027, showing just how much the team believes in her talent. A good climber with a punchy flair, Meijering is the type of rider who can do a lot of different things, whether it’s mountains, GC or hilly one-day races. She’s already taken a GC victory this year, at the Vuelta Extremadura Feminas, where she finished third, first and seventh across the three stages. She was consistent in the hillier Classics, and the Vuelta will mark her first big stage race. With Movistar going into this race with fairly open ambitions, there’s every chance Meijering will have the opportunity to show off the big talent she clearly has.

Sophie von Berswordt (Visma-Lease a Bike)

Unlike Vinke and Meijering, the next name on this list isn’t a climber, but with lots more on the Vuelta route than just the climbs and GC days, there are a lot of different types of riders to watch. Visma-Lease a Bike’s new Dutch recruit Sophie von Berswordt is one of them. Similar to Meijering, Von Berswordt is not super young at 27, but has steadily come up through amateur racing to now be in the WorldTour. She is a powerhouse type of rider, and during the Classics has really shown her aptitude for one-day racing, especially the hard days like Paris-Roubaix, where she finished 14th on debut. What Von Berswordt’s role will be in the Vuelta, her first World Tour stage, remains to be seen, but she should be able to slot in as both a lead-out rider for Vos and support on the flat for their possibly GC hopes, Riejanne Markus and Eva van Agt. On the flatter but rolling days in Spain, Von Berswordt’s strengths should come to the fore, and as she’s proven she can be aggressive, don’t be surprised to see her in and amongst the action.

Vuelta Femenina: The critical points where the race will be decided

Justyna Czapla is in a perhaps daunting position at Canyon-SRAM as she follows in the footsteps of her fellow Canyon-SRAM Generation alumni Ricarda Bauernfeind and Antonia Niedermaier – both in the Vuelta team – who both won Grand Tour stages in their first season with the elite team last year. Whether she will continue that trend is unknown, but she could certainly have a very good week in Spain. A top-five finisher at the World Championships in both her years as a junior, Czapla is a rider who is slightly more well-known than Bauernfeind and Niedermaier were, and has always been on the path to the WorldTour, making the step up this year. She’s a small rider and a strong climber, and proved her abilities particularly in the Generation team’s Spanish block last year, where she picked up a string of top 10s in tough races. She’s had a relatively quiet season so far, with a fairly rude awakening in the Classics, but the hills and stage races are where she thrives, so keep an eye on her progress at the Vuelta.

Magdeleine Vallieres (EF Education-Cannondale)

There are multiple rising stars to watch within the EF Education-Cannondale team – Kim Cadzow and Clara Emond being the others – but the name we want to highlight is Magdeleine Vallieres. A tipped rider in 2023 and winner of one of the women’s Mallorca Challenge races at the start of the season, Vallieres is a name that is already on a lot of people’s radars, but perhaps not everyone’s. Moving to the fresh, motivated new EF team seems to have been a big boost for Vallieres, with her teammates often singing her praises, and their well-picked programme offering plenty of opportunities for young riders like her. The 22-year-old Canadian is a climbing specialist, and is already quite experienced in Grand Tours – she rode all three last year – but this is the first time she’s racing as a rider who really knows she can win. Main GC responsibilities will be elsewhere et EF, but breakaways or unpredictable days could allow Vallieres to shine and show off the experience she’s gained.

25-year-old Ingvild Gåskjenn has been on the scene for a long time, coming up through the ranks with her home team Coop-Hitec Products before joining Jayco AlUla in 2023, but she really looks to be getting to her best this season. Some steady results in the early season began to suggest that, but her step up was really exemplified when she rode to third at Amstel Gold Race, just behind Lorena Wiebes and Marianne Vos. That result wasn’t a fluke, but rather down to the progress that both Gåskjenn and her Liv AlUla Jayco team have been making this season, racing more consistently in the harder races. She backed up her surprise podium with 13th and 21st in Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, which aren’t the biggest results but point towards a real strength. The Vuelta will be her next test, but the medium climbing days should suit her well, and she’ll be looking to back up her potential shown so far this spring.

For everything you need to know about the 2024 Vuelta Femenina, from the

News

Race News

Demi Vollering not heading to UAE Team ADQ or Lidl-Trek

 this year, with the Dutch rider out of contract for next season. Both teams had been linked to the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift winner after 

 broke the news in March that she would not extend her contract with 

Vollering had previously been linked to UAE Team ADQ with 

a reported offer of €1 million per year on the table

 has been informed that such a move will not take place. Lidl-Trek were also in discussions with the 27-year-old but informed our website last week that talks had not progressed. The American team expect both Elisa Longo Borghini and Lizzie Deignan to extend their contracts in the coming months.

Vollering’s options may appear limited but it’s also highly plausible that she has already agreed terms with a team for next year. At the end of March, 

 that there had been no contract between his team and Vollering’s agent, while Visma-Lease a Bike also hinted that their transfer targets were focused on younger riders. The situations at both Movistar and Visma could have changed over the last few weeks but one constant presence when discussing possible squads has been FDJ-SUEZ.

 that both FDJ and SUEZ were on the cusp of signing new sponsorship deals with the team until the end of 2028. 

“We’re just working on the details now but I have all the confidence of my two partners and that’s really good for planning,” team boss Stephen Delcourt told 

“Many riders call me but at the moment there’s nothing. For the next three weeks maybe it’s busy but maybe nobody moves. My priorities are in the present though.”

 out of contract at the end of the season. Brown is said to be considering her future after the Olympic Games in Paris, while Uttrup Ludwig is coming back from injury.

The French team has a solid structure and has built steadily over the last few years with a platform of developing young riders and sustaining the ambitions of major stars. They’re seen as one of the best-run teams in the women’s WorldTour.

“We want that, I think she wants that,” he said.

When asked if Vollering was coming to the team, the French team boss laughed: “How’s that possible? We’re not Dutch, and with Lapierre [bikes]. Do you think it’s possible? Maybe we can start the negotiations tomorrow…

“I don’t know but every team wants a Demi, every team wants a Juliette Labous, everyone wants an Elisa Longo Borghini. The market is really crazy but our priority is to carry on with our team like this and if I feel that Cecile or Marta will leave, I’m not stupid but right now we’re all pushing our cards into the table. Every team talks to Demi but in my opinion it needs time. The rumour is UAE, no? I think she has the chance to sign where she wants.”

Delcourt did confirm that his team were looking at Giro podium finisher 

 at the end of this year. The French rider will not decide her future until the Vuelta Femenina in May.

“If she’s already signed for another team then maybe I’m stupid. Juliet could be a priority, that’s normal. She’s French, she’s one of the only riders who can expect to win the Tour de France, and she made a step last year at the Giro with second overall. It could be really natural if we arrive, but if I’m dsm I extend now.”

For more of the latest from the professional peloton, visit our 

 page. For all things women’s racing, visit our 

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Team dsm-firmenich PostNL

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL

The Team

Top Team dsm-firmenich PostNL Stories

dsm-firmenich Team Talk: Youth-first approach continues to reap rewards with bright future ahead

Vuelta Femenina: 6 rising stars to watch

Demi Vollering not heading to UAE Team ADQ or Lidl-Trek

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Name	Age	UCI Career Wins	UCI Points
Juliette Labous	25	5	2190
Pfeiffer Georgi	23	7	2024
Charlotte Kool	25	17	1748
Nienke Vinke	19	0	449
Francesca Barale	21	0	397