Juliette Labous has become one of France's best known professional cyclists alongside names like Julian Alaphilippe, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Thibaut Pinot and Audrey Cordon Ragot, with her local fanbase blossoming since finishing fourth overall at the 2022 Tour de France Femmes.
The Team DSM rider is learning to embrace and enjoy the newfound attention as she anticipates another headlining season, first at the Ardennes Classics and later at the Tour de France Femmes in July.
"I think especially after the Tour de France, it is something special for French people, and I can see the wide range of people, like my neighbours, normally people who all watch the Tour de France, who thank me for the emotion the felt about the Tour de France last year," Labous told Cyclingnews.
"After the Tour, I saw there was a change in how people saw me and followed women's cycling."
Labous recently finished sixth at the Tour of Flanders in her build-up to the Ardennes Classics and is eyeing Amstel Gold Race as her next target. She will line up at the Amstel Gold Race with Francesca Barale, Léa Curinier, Classic Brugge-De Panne winner Pfeiffer Georgi, Esmée Peperkamp and Elise Uijen.
However, coupled with Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, these three races will serve more as stepping stones to the bigger stage races this summer.
"I like the Ardennes, and they will help me to be good in the GC races later on. The GC events are the big goals, but you have to have other goals too, so I will for sure do the one-day races with less pressure and freedom to try new things," Labous said.
Labous has spent seven years growing as a rider with Team DSM, and now at just 24 years old, she is coming into her own among the women's peloton.
Her name can no longer go under the radar after last year's performances, where she also won the overall title at Vuelta a Burgos and won the queen stage at the Giro d'Italia Donne.
Leadership
Her rise in pro racing has always been moving toward Team DSM general classification leadership, and she said that it has taken consistency, trust and support to get her to this point in her career.
"I feel even more support and trust than before, but I think I have always had the trust since I started with the team, they have always trusted in me, and that has been a big point," Labous said.
"It is more clear when I am the leader now, and that is the big difference compared to last year when I often shared the leadership. I already had some GC leadership, so it is not a big change, but I have a lot of support."
Labous said that she has a high fatigue resistance and her climbing is world-class, and add to that her strength in the time trial. However, she said that she has spent a lot of time this off-season working on her sprint to become more well-rounded.
"I worked on my climbing ability for three seasons, but we changed it a bit this winter to become more complete while still keeping those resistance capabilities," Labous said of her training programme.
"I was not explosive enough to cover attacks, and so we have tried to work on that more so that I can react better while keeping the climbing level as high as possible, and I still need to make some steps to race with the best."
This year Labous would like to move from fourth up to a podium finish at the Tour de France Femmes, and she feels that her new training plans will allow her to take another step up.
"I was physically a bit under the podium of the Tour de France last year. I want to be on the podium this year and show that I'm physically able to [be there in the race] and to be on the podium," she said.
"I need to continue working as I have done. I have continually progressed on this team, and if I keep working like that, it will show. Keep training as I have done and stick to my goals."
