Charlotte Kool and DSM-Firmenich PostNL have a new secret weapon for 2024, and her name is Rachele Barbieri.
The Dutch sprinter hit new heights during her sophomore 2023 season, racking up 13 wins, and she can now look forward to more success this season with a new face in her lead-out train.
This summer, Kool will be eyeing the opening stage and the first yellow jersey of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift on home ground in The Hague. She's confident that the Italian Barbieri, a new signing for 2024, and her revamped lead-out train, will deliver her to the perfect position for the highly anticipated bunch sprint and a likely face-off against the world's leading sprinter, Lorena Wiebes.
"Our lead-out has changed. Rachele Barbieri will be my last lead-out, and Pfeiffer Georgi will go back to her previous position," Kool said of the riders that will form her last two lead-outs in the DSM-Firmenich PostNL train.
"Barbieri is a really nice addition. Pfeiffer is really important in our lead-out, but we were missing additional speed in the end."
Barbieri joins the team after spending two seasons at Liv Racing TeqFind, having previously raced for BePink, WIggle High 5 and Cylance. She's been on the podium in numerous races, including a stage at the Giro d'Italia and Baloise Ladies Tour, and started her DSM stint off well with a second place on the opening day at the UAE Tour Women.
She's also enjoyed a sparkling career on the track, winning the world title in the Scratch Race in 2017 and gold in the Madison and Omnium events from the European Championships in 2022.
In an interview with Cyclingnews, Kool explained her new lead-out train, which she said could change throughout the season, depending on the terrain and rider availability, but ultimately, the last three riders will remain the same.
The lead-out begins with Franziska Koch. Then, Pfeiffer Georgi will take over at the front, followed by Kool's last lead-out woman, Rachele Barbieri.
"And then it's up to me, in that order," Kool said.
In the 2023 season, Kool experienced being the team's sole sprint leader for the first time in her career after Wiebes' departure to SD Worx. In last season's lead-out, Georgi was the rider to deliver Kool into the final sprint.
Georgi is a rider with such versatility that she can initiate breakaways, lead out her team's top sprinter, and win top-tier events for herself as we saw during her breakthrough season last year. However, both she and Kool both agreed the lead-out needed additional power.
"We always look to our own team, and we want to improve, get better. I think Pfeiffer is definitely incredibly strong and very good at her job. She also told us that she doesn't have this push, and I think with the addition of Rachele, we now have this last push," Kool said.
"We can now improve our lead-out and make it even harder for other teams to beat us. We will see how it turns out, but I have a lot of confidence and trust in it."
DSM-Firmenich PostNL have taken the time to perfect their lead-out during the winter months and in the early-season races, even though Kool was sidelined from starting her racing season at the UAE Tour due to early-season illness.
"We are practising a lot at the camps. We talk a lot, and we've had a lot of meetings about it to really get to know each other, how we ride and how we like to do the lead-out. We are working hard on it," she said.
'The first two stages are a big goal'
The third edition of the modern incarnation of the women's Tour de France will be held after the Paris Olympic Games with eight stages across seven days between Monday, August 12 and Sunday, August 18.
Organisers offer a total of 946.3km of racing that includes three flat stages for the sprinters, one individual time trial, two hilly stages, two mountain stages and a crowning conclusion atop the iconic L'Alpe d'Huez.
Kool, who began her 2024 campaign with 15th at the Omloop van het Hageland and seventh at Le Samyn, will be focussed this summer on the first three stages in the Netherlands, including the race opener – a sprinter-friendly flat 124km from Rotterdam to The Hague.
"If you look to the start in the Netherlands, it's a dream start, and the first yellow jersey is on the line, so it's a big motivation," she said. "I think it's perfect for me and for this team.
"For sure, with the addition of new strong riders – Abi Smith, for example – we have some real powerhouses, and we will be able to manage it and go for that yellow jersey."
The racing continues the following day with two stages: a 67km run from Dordrecht to Rotterdam and a short 6.3km trial in Rotterdam. Kool noted that she had spent a lot of time training on her time trial bike in hopes of keeping that yellow jersey through to stage 4, where the team plans to shift their focus to GC contender Juliette Labous.
"The first stage and the second stage in the morning suit me. The time trial is longer than a prologue. I train a lot on my time trial bike, so we will see what that will bring. In Valkenburg, I will give away (probably) my yellow jersey to the climbers.
"The first two stages are a big goal. The focus will then go fully on Juliette and try to help her as best as possible and end the Tour, maybe, as we start it."
Of course, there will be many other sprinters focused on the opening stages with goals of securing the leader's jersey: Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) plus WIebes and her world champion teammate Lotte Kopecky, to name just a few.
Last year, Kool went all-in to win a stage at the Tour de France Femmes, and while she finished on the podium twice, she didn't manage to claim a victory. While Kool left the race disappointed in her performance, the team celebrated Labous' fifth place in the overall classification.
Still, just being in the sprint leadership role for the first time, which saw her deliver all those wins last year, gave her confidence, which she believes will translate into winning performances at the Tour de France.
"Last year gave me a lot of confidence. I had confidence in the beginning, but I was able to confirm that confidence last season," Kool said. "I had a stable year and every race I could reach my highest level. I was in good shape.
"I had COVID in the Classics, which was a shame, but if you look back on the timing, you can see that it was good timing compared to the season
"I can feel now that throughout this winter, I've been able to bring this level with me. I can train harder, better, and more. I'm better in the sprints, fitter, and feel fresher toward sprints. I'm even able to do well on the harder courses."
Although she had to pull out of the UAE Tour just before the start this year, she has since started racing at Omloop van het Hageland and Le Samyn des Dames. She will continue her season at Ronde van Drenthe and go on to compete in a selection of Spring Classics, including Gent-Wevelgem, the Classic Brugge-De Panne, and Scheldeprijs.
