![\"Femke](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Z8A_1748.jpg\")
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News & Racing<\/a><\/p>\n Visma signed 29-year-old Femke de Vries in early June of 2024. Two months later, she raced the Tour de France, and now she is indispensable to the Dutch team.<\/p>\n Gruber Images<\/p>\n Imagine you’re 26 years old, racing on the Club Loving Potatoes team in the Netherlands, dreaming of someday becoming a professional cyclist, but unable to really crack your potential. Your strength is climbing, but your team mostly does flat, lower-level races. A few years later, you’ve signed with a Continental team, GT Krush Tunap, and finally the opportunities trickle in, but you’re still not really where you want to be, so after a year or so, you look online for a new coach, find a guy who seems like he knows what he’s doing, and send him a message. <\/p>\n At the time, you had no idea that he was a coach for Visma-Lease a Bike, one of the best teams in the women’s peloton. Within a few months, you’ve signed a WorldTour contract, a few months after that, you’re on the start line of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, in the same jersey as Marianne Vos. <\/p>\n And to think, only a year before you’d considered quitting. <\/p>\n That is the story of how Femke de Vries found herself on Visma-Lease a Bike in 2024, in the biggest bike race in the world, alongside some of the very best in the sport. The Dutch team has, over the past couple of years, made a habit of picking up unknown riders, even from other sports, and making them into champions. De Vries is one of those in whom the team saw potential. <\/p>\n In February, De Vries finished third overall at the UAE Tour. It was the first time she was really able to ride for herself. The result came from months of preparation and dedication. She might not have climbed to the top step of the podium, but the result hints at what the 32-year-old is capable of as Visma-Lease a Bike embraces its position as a top women’s team. De Vries’ success stands out all the more considering that she was a Continental rider not all that long ago.<\/p>\n “It’s a bit crazy, also for me to think back on that time and now, the difference is so big,” De Vries told Escape Collective. <\/p>\n When asked about her path into the professional ranks, how she got to be one of Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot’s main helpers in the Tour de France in 2025, she laughed. <\/p>\n “Where to start?” she said. <\/p>\n This post is for paying subscribers only Already have an account? Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n Did we do a good job with this story?<\/p>\n \n \ud83d\udc4dYep![\"Abby](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Abby-Mickey-150x150.jpg\")
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