When Charlotte Kool burst onto the sprinting scene in 2023 for DSM, she was filling the void left by the most serial winner in the women’s peloton, Lorena Wiebes. But a season and a half since they ended their time as teammates, it’s Kool who has the upper hand, wielding more than enough power to come from behind and pass the rider she used to lead out and win stage 2 of the Tour de France Femmes.
On Monday’s opening stage in The Hague, Wiebes’ mechanical in the final 500 metres left something of a question mark. In Rotterdam on stage 2, however, there were no doubts. Kool was full value for her victory.
For Kool and DSM-Firmenich PostNL, it’s a sprint they knew she knew she had in her legs, and a dream she hoped would come true. Back-to-back wins in her home Netherlands have arrived, with a yellow jersey to go with them.
“Dreams come true quite fast these days, first yesterday and today already in this yellow jersey is really special,” said Kool after the finish.
“Yesterday was I think the most special because everything came together but of course winning the second stage in a row, in the Netherlands, in a Tour de France is insane.”
For Kool, it was a complicated and long-unknown respiratory problem that had been plaguing her results, leading her to enter the Tour with just one win to her name, a long way down on the 18 Wiebes had netted before August 12. But Kool had high hopes of it all coming together for the big occasion.
“This big goal [of the Tour] always kept me going and kept on fighting and believing that the only race you want the best legs for is the race,” Kool had told Cyclingnews before the race as she explained how she’d stayed focused while not knowing why she was missing her top level. But perhaps she could feel what was about to happen.
“For me personally, last year, I won everywhere except at the Tour so maybe this year it will be the other way around.”
Kool credited a specialist with turning things around, albeit at the last gasp, with two weeks to go until the start of the Tour. “I finally feel like myself again,” she said of the issues in her stage 1 press conference. Tuesday’s stage was further confirmation that she was back to her peak form.
“I felt yesterday my sprint was so good and it’s back where it should be,” said Kool as she described the finish to reporters. “I knew just do the same as yesterday, be really patient and just launch,”
Wiebes hit the front earliest after a textbook leadout from SD Worx-Protime, looking to bounce back from the disappointment of stage 1 where a hit from behind and rear derailleur disappearance left her in tears at the line. But Kool kept calm, swapping positions from when they used to be teammates to pull out of her slipstream for victory. Perhaps women's sprinting has a new top dog.
Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes - including breaking news and analysis reported by our journalists on the ground from every stage as it happens and more. Find out more.
