‘I’ll just be there to help the team’ – 2026 breakout rider Paula Blasi plays down expectations for first Tour de France Femmes participation

2026 breakout rider Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ) has confirmed that she will be taking part in the Tour de France Femmes this August, but has played down expectations of a GC bid in her first-ever participation.

Blasi, 23, has enjoyed runaway success this season, surprising the favourites in the Amstel Gold Race – a race which she was only a last-minute substitute for – and also winning La Vuelta Fémenina, the Tour Féminin des Pyrénées, the Durango-Durango one-day race, and, most recently, her biggest home stage race, the Volta a Catalunya.

“There’s still a month to go and I’ll just be there to help the team,” Blasi told Spanish news agency EFE.

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“The Tour is a very big deal, I’ve never done anything like that before, so I will help the team leaders.”

Blasi’s performance in the Tour des Pyrénées, forged with a dramatic victory in a stage over the Tourmalet, only added to the already considerable interest created by her win in La Vuelta Féminina.

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As for Catalunya, her standout highlight was a climbing stage victory by nearly 90 seconds over up-and-coming French racer Célia Gery (FDJ United-SUEZ) at La Molina in the Pyrenees. Having rounded off that success with the overall win on Sunday, setbacks such as having her bike stolen after stage 1 were completely forgotten.

Even before this Sunday, Blasi had already put down her remarkable jump in performance levels to a major change in mindset from one year to the next.

“Physically, I’m the same that competed in this race last year I did it as a debutant,” Blasi said after the Tour de Pyrénées, in a statement reported by El País. “Mentally, I’m somebody else. My experience is something different.

“I needed to learn how to move in the bunch, how to stay calm when you have to, not waste energy. I think I’m more confident about what I can do.”

It remains to be seen what Blasi can achieve in the biggest race of them all when she heads for the Tour start line in Lausanne on August 1st. But right now, the omens are nothing less than very promising.

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