'The first big one' - Juliette Labous breaks through at Vuelta a Burgos Feminas

Juliette Labous (Team DSM) was delighted to stand on the top step of the Vuelta a Burgos Féminas podium where she received the purple jersey and the GC winner’s trophy after her second-place finish on the final stage 4 handed her the overall victory.

“I want to thank the whole team and everyone at the team headquarters. It’s the first big one and I hope there are more to come for us,” Labous said after her victory at the four-day race.

"Again, thanks to the girls and the staff – we overcame all of the challenges together and I’m so happy for that. I’m also thinking about my boyfriend, my whole family, my coach, my grandma who is always watching the races on TV, my friends, so many people

Coming off a fifth place in the previous week’s Itzulia Women, Labous performed well throughout the four days at the Vuelta a Burgos Féminas. Supported by Liane Lippert as well as Floortje Mackaij and Elise Uijen, Labous stayed out of trouble in the echelons on stage 1 and finished in the peloton on stage 2.

On stage 3, Labous laid the groundwork for her GC success when she was seventh across the line atop the 1.5-kilometre finishing climb to Ojo Guareña, only losing time to Mavi García (UAE Team ADQ) and Évita Muzic (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) and gained 34 seconds on pre-race favourite Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx).

“The girls did a great job, Franzi [Koch] and Floortje were really strong and closed the gap to the break at the bottom of the climb which was perfect for me. They had a lot of trust in me, and I trusted myself. Esmée [Peperkamp] and Liane stayed with me on the climb and then I just went as hard as I could,” Labous described the final stage.

On the climb, Labous was following Vollering when she attacked and then made a move herself. In the end, Labous could not stay with the Dutch allrounder but limited her losses to 17 seconds behind and winning the race overall.

The Vuelta a Burgos Féminas GC victory is Labous’ first individual victory at the Women’s WorldTour level and only her fourth on the elite level. She had previously won a stage of the Czech 2.2 stage race Tour de Féminin in 2017 and the opening team time trial of the 2018 Giro Rosa. In 2020, Labous won the French elite and U23 ITT championships but remained without a victory since then.

However, her development trajectory continued to go upwards: The U23 jersey at the 2019 Giro Rosa showed that Labous was a prospect for mountainous stage races, and she confirmed this with seventh and eighth places in the 2021 Giro Donne and Ladies Tour of Norway, respectively, before underlining her ITT prowess with the runner-up place in the Women’s Tour.

After a good classics campaign and her GC victory in Burgos, Labous has now emerged as a rider to watch in the big stage races – her main goal for the summer is the inaugural Tour de France Femmes.