[RE-RELEASE] 2025 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift Recap: Hot Takes & Payout Debates

[RE-RELEASE] 2025 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift Recap: Hot Takes & Payout Debates

🚨 SPECIAL VAULT RE-RELEASE 🚨 With the 2026 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift right around the corner, we are taking a trip back in time! We are re-releasing our complete post-race recap of the 2025 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift to help you get prepped, hyped, and caught up on all the storylines as we prepare for this year's edition. EPISODE OVERVIEW Two days after the champagne sprayed at the 2025 finale, Betsy Welch, Anne-Marije Rook, Rosael, and Molly Hurford sat down—squarely in the middle of a massive post-race hangover—to process nine thrilling days of racing. From podium semantics and prize money outrage to breaking tradition and celebrating veteran riders, the crew unpacks everything that left an impact from the fourth edition of the TdFFaZ. WHAT WE COVER IN THIS THROWBACK EPISODE: * Podium Celebrations vs. Playing It Safe: Is a second or third-place finish something to pop champagne over for established superstars like Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma? We discuss whether riders played it too safe to secure GC podium spots rather than risking it all for yellow. * The Prize Money Rant: Mainstream media finally picked up on the fact that the women's winner took home roughly 10% of the men's GC payout. We debate wage parity, dollar-per-hour metrics, cyclocross comparison models, and team budget caps. * The Year of the Veteran Rider: Peak athletic performance isn't just for Gen Z. We highlight the incredible performances from veteran riders like Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (33), Marianne Vos (38), and Mavi Garcia (41), while examining the junior pipeline and physiological longevity in women’s sports. * Flipping the Script on Tradition: Why should a four-year-old women's race follow men's cycling rules from 1903? We talk about DS drama, peloton etiquette, and normalized conversations around periods in commentary. * Standout Rides & Unsung Heroes: Mavi Garcia’s emotional stage win, Sarah Gigante’s vulnerability, AG Insurance Soudal’s masterclass in team tactics, and Kim Le Court. * The Calendar & Sponsorship Future: Is following the men's Tour immediately causing fan fatigue? Plus, the crew discusses Zwift’s title sponsorship, ROI, and where the race goes next. SHOW SPONSOR A huge thank you to Ruckus Composites for supporting this episode! Built on a mission to push the boundaries of carbon fiber performance, Ruckus Composites and Aerospace are leaders in engineering, research, repair, and inspection. GET READY FOR 2026 COVERAGE! We are gearing up for daily coverage of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift from August 1st to August 9th! * 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @ [https://www.google.com/search?q=https://instagram.com/queenstage.cc]queenstage.cc [http://queenstage.cc] * 📧 Send us your thoughts & questions: info@queenstage.cc [info@queenstage.cc] * 🎧 Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen to podcasts!

Bonus Episode: Geerike Schreurs Interview

Rosael Torres-Davis and Molly Hurford bring listeners a bonus conversation with Geerike “Gee” Schreurs, the Specialized Off-Road gravel racer who finished second at Unbound Gravel 2026, one second behind teammate Sofia Gomez Villafañe in the closest finish in the race’s twenty-year history. Molly met Schreurs the week after Unbound through a chance disc golf outing near her home outside Toronto, and the two dig into Schreurs’ path from soigneuse to podium contender, the tactical chaos of a five-up sprint in the mud, and what it means to race for a team stacked with privateers rather than a traditional road-style hierarchy. Highlights include: Schreurs on her mixed feelings after taking second at Unbound despite a nearly flawless ride, and why she second-guessed attacking solo late in the race. The story of how four-time Giro d’Italia Women champion Anna van der Breggen, for whom Schreurs worked as a soigneuse, encouraged her to try gravel racing after Specialized asked for recommendations. Reflections on watching van der Breggen return to racing this spring, including her commanding stage four time trial win at the Giro d’Italia Women. Van der Breggen held the pink jersey into the final stage before Demi Vollering overtook her on the road to win the overall title, with Antonia Niedermaier second and van der Breggen third. What it is like transitioning from staff to rider, and why Schreurs still catches herself doing the soigneur’s job out of habit. Her Unbound equipment setup, including her decision to stick with her existing drivetrain over switching to a wider-range cassette, and how a chain catcher and her SRAM blip shifters helped her manage the mud. Her Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift pick (Demi Vollering, with an eye on Antonia Niedermaier as a dark horse) and a look ahead to the rest of her season, including Gravel Worlds in Nebraska and the road to the World Championships in Australia. Follow Geerike Schreurs on Instagram at @gee_schreurs. Queen Stage is produced by Ruckus Composites.

UNBOUND Live + The Liv Devote Advanced SL: Extended Edition

This extended edition of our live UNBOUND Gravel recording includes an exclusive first look at the new Liv Devote Advanced SL, straight from Emporia, Kansas. Near the end of the recording, Ludi Scholz, Liv's global gravel category manager, walks us through what went into building a pure race machine from the ground up: new carbon construction, a full aero system, and 297 grams shed from the previous platform. For the first time ever, Queen Stage recorded live, and we did it in the only place that made sense: Emporia, Kansas, home of UNBOUND Gravel, presented by Liv Cycling [https://www.liv-cycling.com/us]. We brought together four women who represent every corner of the sport: Ludi Scholz, Liv's global gravel category manager, who has spent over a decade making the case that women deserve more than a shrunken, pinked-down version of a bike. Peta Mullens, Australian multi-discipline cyclist and Lifetime Grand Prix competitor, who made the jump from American crit racing to gravel and hasn't looked back. Melisa Rollins, chemist-turned-professional cyclist, Leadville Trail 100 champion, and one of the most compelling athletes in the gravel field today. And Paige Stuart, Liv's mechanic for the Lifetime Grand Prix series, who went from tinkering on vintage bikes in Moab to wrenching at UCI Mountain Bike World Cups. Together, they cover a lot of ground. Ludi on why Liv is a brand, not a line, and what twelve years of commitment to women's cycling actually looks like in practice. Peta on the professionalization of women's gravel, the amateur field gap, and why the atmosphere in Emporia is as much a draw as the race itself. Melisa on her road back from a broken elbow, the hundred-year-old sourdough starter that kept her sane, and what she thinks about Kate Courtney's Leadville record. Paige on holding the door open for other women in the sport, the little girl at a World Cup who stopped and stared, and what it takes to get your own hands on a wrench. This episode also gets into the bigger picture: how women's gravel went from mass starts with thousands of men to a legitimate, separate, competitive field in just a few years. Who made that happen. What still needs to change. And why storytelling, community, and yes, a hot pink gravel bike, might be exactly how we get there. Recorded live in front of an audience in Emporia, Kansas, the week of Unbound Gravel 2026. Presented by Liv Cycling. ---------------------------------------- Guests: Ludi Scholz, Global Gravel Category Manager, Liv Cycling Peta Mullens, Liv Racing Collective Melisa Rollins, Liv Racing Collective Paige Stuart, Liv Cycling Mechanic Hosts: Betsy Welch, Anne-Marije Rook, Rosael Torres-Davis, Molly Hurford Find us at queenstage.cc [https://www.queenstage.cc/] and on Instagram @queenstage.cc [https://www.instagram.com/queenstage.cc/].

Sofia Gomez Villafañe: UNBOUND, SBT GRVL, and Everything You Need to Know About Chain Wax

She won UNBOUND Gravel in the mud. Then she went to Steamboat Springs and won SBT GRVL on dry champagne gravel. Sofia Gomez Villafañe is having one of the most dominant seasons in women's gravel racing history, and she sat down with Queen Stage to talk all of it. In 2026 alone, Sofia has won Santa Vall, Castellón Gravel Race, Valley of Tears, Mid South Gravel, Sea Otter Classic, The Traka 200, Unbound Gravel, and SBT GRVL. In this conversation, Rosael, Betsy, and Molly get into the racing, the person behind the results, and the science and best practices behind chain wax. What we cover: * Racing and strategy at Unbound Gravel 2026 and SBT GRVL, including how Sofia prepared for extreme mud, how she managed equipment through 207 miles of limestone paste, and what she was thinking in the final sprint on Commercial Street. * The double standard applied to competitive women in sport, and why the same traits that get male athletes celebrated get women labeled difficult or worse. Sofia addresses the "villain" narrative head-on. * The professionalization of gravel racing: feed zones, athlete support, race calendars, and the tensions that come with a grassroots discipline growing up fast. * Sofia's big-picture goals for 2026, including stepping away from the Life Time Grand Prix overall to target the UCI Gravel World Championships in October. * The Cooldown podcast, post-race debriefs, working with coach Carmen Small, and what actually motivates her to keep winning. SILCA Chain Wax Segment: Why hot-melt immersion wax outperformed wet lube at Unbound, even in the mud. Sofia explains the endurance chip and speed chip system she and her mechanic Brad use to customize their wax blend for ultra-long events. We also cover how to know when to re-wax, how to top off between immersions, common beginner mistakes (including routing the chain wrong through the rear derailleur), and why starting with a brand-new chain and SILCA's Strip Chip makes the whole process dramatically easier. Rosael shares her own first hot-melt wax experience at home, and Betsy commits to making the switch on air. SILCA products mentioned: Secret Chain Blend Hot Melt Wax, Strip Chip, Speed Chip, Endurance Chip, drip top-off wax, pre-waxed chains, and the SILCA wax pot. Learn more at silca.cc [http://silca.cc]. Subscribe, follow, and send us your TdFFaZ questions and hot takes at info@queenstage.cc [info@queenstage.cc]. Daily coverage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift drops August 1 through 9. Preview episode out end of July. Follow Queen Stage: @queenstage.cc [https://www.instagram.com/queenstage.cc/] | queenstage.cc [http://queenstage.cc]

The Toughest Rival: Yourself, with Olympic Champion Grace Brown

What's the toughest opponent a time trialist will ever face? The clock is just a scoreboard. The real rival is the voice in your head. This episode, Queen Stage talks with Grace Brown, the reigning Olympic champion and 2024 world champion in the individual time trial, about the mental architecture of elite cycling, the line between ambition and perfectionism, and what happens to your sense of self when you walk away from competition at the absolute peak. Grace won everything in 2024—the Olympic gold, the world title, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, her fourth national time trial championship—and then retired. In this conversation, she walks us through the Glasgow Worlds race where doubt cost her five seconds, the Zurich Worlds mantra that flipped a 25-second deficit in the final 12 kilometers, the wet Paris Olympics, and why she said no to one more year despite being on top. We also talk about her work as president of The Cyclists' Alliance [https://cyclistsalliance.org/], the structural gaps in women's cycling development, and how being good at pushing yourself to the limit translates—and doesn't translate—to life after racing. This episode is Part Three of Queen Stage's four-episode branded content series with Rapha and Zwift, themed around fierce friendships and rivalries in women's cycling. https://www.zwift.com/events/tag/queenstagepod [https://www.zwift.com/events/tag/queenstagepod] In This Episode: * Time Trial as Self-Confrontation How internal dialogue separates winners from the rest * The Zurich Worlds Comeback Grace's mantra on repeat: "You're strong, you can be world champion." She flips a 25-second gap to win the rainbow jersey weeks after Olympic gold * Olympic Gold in the Rain How staying relaxed while others panicked at Paris became the competitive edge Working with a sports psychologist to build strategies for pressure Racing only against the course and herself, not against external chaos * Ambition vs. Perfectionism Winning means delivering your best self under the circumstances given, not executing a flawless plan * Retiring at the Top Why stepping away after her best year made sense; the pull of home outweighed one more season at the top * The Cyclists' Alliance Grace's role as president: advocacy, legal support, mentorship for emerging riders The crisis: Continental-level races disappearing, gutting the development pathway Why World Tour revenue needs to trickle down to sustain the sport structurally * Self-Talk and Self-Compassion The distinction between self-compassion and letting yourself off the hook Sponsors and Partners Rapha and Zwift This episode is part of a four-episode Queen Stage series presented by Rapha and Zwift, built around the theme of fierce friendships and rivalries in women's cycling. The series builds toward the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, August 1–9, and the Rapha Women's 100, September 5–6. Join the Zwift community ride on Wednesday, June 24, at one of six available time slots. Ruckus Composites The home of Queen Stage. Experts in carbon fiber repair, inspection, and engineering. Support the Show The best way to support Queen Stage is to subscribe and leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Have a question, a hot take, or just want to say hello? Email us at info@queenstage.cc [info@queenstage.cc] or find us on Instagram at @queenstage.cc [http://queenstage.cc].