It’s a long way from Rotterdam to L’Alpe d’Huez, as the Women’s WorldTour peloton is going to discover for the third edition of the Tour de France Femmes. For the first time, the Tour Femmes starts outside its home country, but what better place than cycling-crazy Netherlands to make this landmark debut? It will then head for its denouement on the Dutch Mountain. Rotterdam to the Alpe may be a long way physically, but perhaps the start and finish of the 2024 Tour Femmes are not so far apart culturally.

Rouleur 130: Tour de France Femmes is devoted to the biggest race in women’s cycling. Rotterdam native and ex-pro Iris Slappendel gives us a guided Tour of the coolest spots in the city, while Illi Gardner, the Strava QOM holder on the Alpe, tells us about her unique approach to bagging fast times on the world’s hardest climbs. We have interviews with Tour protagonists Niamh Fisher-Black and Mavi García, as well as with Joane Somarriba, three-time winner of the Grande Boucle Féminine, the former equivalent of the Tour, and Fabiana Luperini, who won the Giro-Tour double three times consecutively in the mid-1990s.