2025 Preview #10 – FDJ-SUEZ

All images: Justin Britton

Establishing themselves among the best

2024 was a great season for FDJ-SUEZ. Indeed, it showed that the French team was undeniably among the best in the peloton, thanks to good results at the biggest races in the World.

All started well for Stephen Delcourt’s team as Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig triumphed at the second stage of the Santos Tour Down Under, launching the season of her team. Despite this win, it was a difficult year for the Danish rider who suffered from a fracture of the sacrum at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, causing her to miss the Ardennes Classics and compromising her preparation for the Grand Tours. Indeed, the Danish rider only finished eighth at the Giro and worked for her teammate Evita Muzic during the Tour de France Femmes. During Uttrup Ludwig’s absence, the Frenchwoman took the leadership of the team on the steep races in her hands, with great success. She showed that she was one of the best climbers in the world during La Vuelta, where she finished fifth with a stage win at the top of La Laguna Negra. The native of Lons-le-Saunier did even better at her national Tour, with a fourth place overall after an amazing final stage where she crossed the line in third.

The other best performing rider for FDJ-SUEZ in 2024 was Grace Brown. At 32 years old, the Australian spent her last year in the peloton very well, as she added some of the most beautiful races to her trophy cabinet. The Australian ITT Champion managed to raise her arms at Liège-Bastogne-Liège after a crazy race, writing history for her team. The native of Camperdown did not stop there, as she proved that she was the best time trialist in the peloton, winning both the Olympic Gold medal and the World Championships in this exercise. With this beautiful season where she also won the Bretagne Ladies Tour for the second year in a row, Grace Brown ends her career at her peak, at the top of the UCI classification.

Entering a new dimension

FDJ-SUEZ has had, without a doubt, the best transfer window of the Women’s World Tour peloton with some incredible arrivals that will allow the team to enter a new dimension and become one of the best teams in the World.

The main arrival for Stephen Delcourt’s team is obviously Demi Vollering. At 28 years old, the Dutch rider has won almost everything and is still hungry for more. After four years with Team SD Worx, the former Dutch champion choose to change team for 2025. Last season, Vollering triumphed at La Vuelta, Itzulia, the Vuelta a Burgos and at the Tour de Suisse but did not manage to keep her title at the Tour de France Femmes, which she lost by a few seconds to Katarzyna Niewiadoma. The native of Pijnacker will surely want to take revenge at the French Grand Tour in 2025, as well as at the Classics, where she did not raise her arms at all last season.

FDJ-SUEZ did not stop there during this interseason. Indeed, in addition to the Dutch superstar, Juliette Labous will also be joining the team from dsm-firmenich. The recent French champion will add even more quality to the mountains squad of the French team and will hope to have the ability to play her card in some races. The former Giro Donne runner-up would like to improve this result and go for the win at a Grand Tour, after multiple top fives. Labous did not come alone from dsm-firmenich. She brings with her, her very young compatriot Eglantine Rayer who already proved her great climbing capacities during the Tour de Suisse 2023, where she finished 10^th overall.

In addition to these riders, the strong all-rounder Elise Chabbey will be an important asset throughout the season. The former Swiss champion can shine in various types of races, as proven by her fourth place finishes at Paris-Roubaix 2022 and at the Vuelta a Burgos last year. Along with the Swiss rider, the sprinter Ally Wollaston and the wonderkid Célia Gery complete the 2025 roster of FDJ-SUEZ.

In order to sign these riders, Delcourt’s team also suffered from some departures this winter: Grace Brown, who retired at the end of 2024; the former Danish champion Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, and also Marta Cavalli, who left the team, marking a change of era for the French team.

The signing of all these riders, especially Demi Vollering – arguably the best rider in the peloton – is a game changer for FDJ-SUEZ. Indeed, in addition to the great results that the Dutchwoman and her new teammates will surely bring, it also presents an attractive prospect for additional sponsors and fans for the French team, a good sign to enable them to establish themselves as one of the best teams in the peloton.

The best mountains squad in the World?

With the majority of the interseason signings being climbers, FDJ-SUEZ’s ambition is clear: becoming the best climbing force in the peloton. These recruits could also help Stephen Delcourt’s team to achieve their biggest objective in the years to come: win the Tour de France Femmes.

When the subject of leadership in the mountains for FDJ-SUEZ is brought to the table, the first name that comes to mind is obviously Demi Vollering. The Dutch rider has been the best climber in the peloton in the past few years, winning the Tour de France Femmes, La Vuelta and also several smaller World Tour stage races such as the Tour de Romandie and Itzulia. With her new team, Vollering will of course be the leader in almost every race she takes part in but her teammates could transform into her opponents if she turns out to have a bad day.

Behind Vollering, the French duo composed of Juliette Labous and Evita Muzic completes one of the best climbing trios in the Women’s peloton with three riders able to triumph at a Grand Tour next season. Indeed, even if the two Frenchwomen have not added the most prestigious stage races in the World to their trophy cabinet yet, they are still young and have established themselves as some of the best climbers in the world over the past few years. While French champion Labous finished fifth at the Giro Donne last year, her compatriot took  fourth at the Tour de France Femmes. If this trio is aligned together at the start of the next Tour de France, it will be very difficult for their opponents to defeat FDJ-SUEZ on the summer French roads.

In addition to these three climbers who are amongst the best in the peloton, the experience of Elise Chabbey could definitely be extremely important in order for the team to succeed at the biggest races in the world. This addition of great riders will also allow the young wonderkids Célia Gery and Eglantine Rayer to learn from the best and to progress faster. If the French team manage to keep these two, it could guarantee a bright future for Delcourt and his staff.

A reinforced Classics squad

If the main reinforcements of the winter for FDJ-SUEZ were in the mountains field, the Classics squad of the team could also become very dangerous, both during the Ardennes and the Flanders classics.

By becoming a major force in the mountains, FDJ-SUEZ also became one at the Ardennes Classics, especially thanks to Demi Vollering, who realised the Ardennes treble in 2023. The addition of the Dutch rider to Elise Chabbey, fourth at the latest Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Evita Muzic, fourth at La Flèche Wallonne last year will form an incredible team on the steep Belgian roads, replacing the duo of Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Marta Cavalli, two experts of these races.

FDJ-SUEZ’s Flanders classics squad will also see improvement for 2025. The team already placed two riders in the top ten at Paris-Roubaix last season, with Amber Kraak in fifth and Marie Le Net in ninth. These two riders will be joined by Chabbey, who already finished in the five best during the Hell of the North. Without having the best riders in the world for these kind of races, the French team’s collective completed by Loes Adegeest and Vittoria Guazzini could be the great surprise of this spring.

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