There could only be one first breakaway of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. For the smaller team of VolkerWessels, residing in the ProTeam tier, this kind of advertising and opportunity looked too good to pass up. It was soon after the flag dropped for Stage 1 of the 2025 edition of Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift that Maud Rijnbeek went on the attack. She was joined by Laura Tomasi of Laboral Kutxa – Fundación Euskadi, but the Dutchwoman proved too strong. It became a solo parade through the roads of Bretagne.
Rijnbeek’s wheel was first over the first categorised climb of the Tour. Many, many more will follow, but for the young Rijnbeek, at only 22 years old, she got to enjoy something few ever get to experience in their life: first wheel and solo up a categorised climb for the Tour de France. Escape Collective caught up with the young rider before Stage 2, and of this experience, she said, “It was really special. It is my first Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.”
Rijnbeek was previously on AG Insurance-Soudal, and 2025 is her first year with the team of VolkerWessels. Her new home has a knack for churning out top riders over the years. Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) and SD Worx Protime riders Lorena Wiebes, Mischa Bredewold, Femke Markus and Femke Gerritse all came out of this environment. Not a bad strike rate, eh? The way Rijnbeek attacked stage 1 made it clear there was intention within the team. They encourage opportunistic racing, acknowledging they are not one of the ‘big teams’. However, with that ‘underdog’ status comes a certain amount of freedom from the bunch.
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