DSM-Firmenich PostNL were the first WWT team to announce their roster for the second women’s Grand Tour of the year, with Juliette Labous set to lead their GC ambitions at the rebranded Giro d’Italia Women.
Labous, the runner-up at the 2023 Giro, was revealed in a video announcement featuring men’s teammate John Degenkolb alongside a strong support squad for the eight stages made up of Francesca Barale, Eleonora Ciabocco, Franziska Koch, Josie Nelson, Becky Storrie and Nienke Vinke.
The 25-year-old Labous is in great form having won the French national road race title at the end of June, with a debut in the Triclolore jersey set to come at the Giro. She’s also looked good in stage races throughout 2024, with fifth at Romandie, third at Itzulia and fourth at the Vuelta.
“We’re looking forward to travelling to Italy for the second Grand Tour of the season with this exciting squad. Our objective for the race is clear, with Juliette as our finisher for the GC battle, and we’re confident that the team we have here can support her in the best possible way for us to achieve our goals together,” said team coach Kelvin Dekker on the team website.
“We have really good memories of this race from last year with our second place overall, so we have once again made this one of our target goals for the season. We’re looking forward to getting underway and showing our team colours out on the road.”
Labous was only bested by the now-retired Annemiek van Vlueten in last year’s edition, so will be confident of going one better against the likes of Gaia Realini, Elisa Longo Borghini (both Lidl-Trek) and Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) who are provisionally down to start in Brescia on July 7.
Racing gets underway with a 15.7km individual time trial in the Lombardy region, with the overall GC likely to be decided fully after the seventh stage, as the women’s Giro heads up to the iconic Blockhaus climb.
After completing the Giro d'Italia Women, Labous will turn her focus to her home Olympics in Paris, where she will take on both the road race, with Audrey Cordon-Ragot and Victoire Berteau, and the time trial with the former.
DSM-Firmenich PostNL Giro d'Italia Women 2024 roster
- Juliette Labous
- Francesca Barale
- Eleonora Ciabocco
- Franziska Koch
- Josie Nelson
- Becky Storrie
- Nienke Vinke
