French team FDJ United-SUEZ might be the world’s highest-ranked team and have three WorldTour wins to their name already in 2026, but they arrived at the UAE Tour Women without a front-line sprinter.
Rather than sit back and wait for Sunday’s final stage 4 to the top of the Jebel Hafeet climb, where Juliette Berthet (née Labous) is expected to go well, they took stage 1 by the scruff of the neck.
Early on, they put in a huge collective dig, hoping to split the race in what little wind was blowing across the flat desert roads. Then they tried to instigate a move on the back of a split following the day’s second intermediate sprint, though once again they were unsuccessful.
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The aggressor in chief was one of the team’s new recruits, German champion Franziska Koch, who joined from Picnic-PostNL over the winter.
Only 25, Koch spent seven years at the Dutch registered squad, announcing herself to the world with a stage win at the Boels Ladies Tour in her first season. Since then, she might have picked up only two further wins, both national titles, but she has become increasingly influential in a variety of races.
A real workhorse, last year she was often seen off the front, tackling a variety of courses or controlling breakaways.
Now, though, she’s sporting FDJ’s jersey, though her national champion’s colours are distinctive enough when she’s doing her thing for her new teammates.
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“Today was the first race with the team, so I was super excited,” Koch told Cyclingnews at the finish of Thursday’s opening stage won by Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime).
“It’s a great atmosphere, so it was a special one, it was a good start into the season, even though we didn’t have the result,” she said.
“We don’t have the fastest sprinter in the team, so you need to use every opportunity to try something other than a sprint. So the goal wasn’t to go for the sprint, but I was just in a good position for my teammate, and then I saw there was a little gap. So why not just use it?” she said of her move after the intermediate sprint.
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While the team don’t have a fast woman to match the likes of Wiebes, Vittoria Guazzini was the designated sprinter and the squad’s top finisher, taking 18th place with Koch a few places further down.
“I was supposed to do a lead out, but Vittoria unfortunately got squeezed off my wheel in the end,” Koch added.
The German had become a stalwart of the Picnic-PostNL team, and her move was somewhat of a surprise, even if it was a canny one for FDJ.
“I was happy in Picnic, but at the end it was also seven years and I think a fresh environment is always good. I’m super happy with FDJ, it brings me a lot more motivation. And I think the team is just one of the best, I mean, on paper, literally number one! So yeah, I’m really excited to represent FDJ.
“I hope that I can guide the team well, but obviously, I’m also new, so fitting into the team. The team likes to race aggressive and I think that’s exactly my style of racing as well, and creating something with the team is always great or in other races supporting Demi [Vollering] of course.
“The Classics are my first big goal, it’s my kind of racing.”