Canadian Isabella Holmgren dominated Tour de l’Avenir Femmes with three stage wins and some of the best u23 performances ever.
Uphill Prologue
The opening stage was a three kilometre prologue up the final part of Tignes.
Tour de l’Avenir 2025 prologue profile
Isabella Holmgren was superior to everyone else with a strong performance of 5.90 ᵉW/Kg for 8:44 min with 6.30 ᵉW/Kg adjusted for altitude. It was a very high level performance and she beat her closest competitors by 17 seconds, setting a tone for this race.
Eleonora Ciabocco and Talia Appleton finished on the podium, while last year’s winner Marion Bunel came 7th with 5.49 ᵉW/Kg for 9:19 min, underperforming by her high standards.
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Stage 5a
The first and only real mountain stage was on the last day of the race after a rest day. Similar to the men, the riders did a neutralized descent before the first and hardest climb of the race, Colle San Carlo (10.3 km, 9.97%).
Tour de l’Avenir 2025 stage 5a profile
Holmgren crossed Colle San Carlo with Bunel, doing 4.91 ᵉW/Kg for 43:26 min. The 19-year-old Australian, without a World Tour contract or even a development or pro continental contract in 2025, Talia Appleton was third fastest on the climb with 4.84 ᵉW/Kg for 44 minutes.
Bunel and Holmgren created a huge gap, winning with a near three-minute margin over Appleton. Sixth-placed Paula Blasi lost 6:43 min, with other contenders losing even more time before the final stage.
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Stage 5b
The final stage was a mountain time trial on La Rosiere (10.1 km, 6.75%), a few hours after the Colle San Carlo road stage.
Tour de l’Avenir 2025 stage 5b profile
Holmgren did the most dominant performance on this stage with 5.30 ᵉW/Kg for 29 minutes, beating everyone by a minute. With 5.61 ᵉW/Kg adjusted for altitude and 521 aslp, it was an extremely good performance for a 2nd-year u23 climber, and it would have been one of the best efforts adjusted for altitude in the elite category. Demi Vollering in the 2024 Villars Sur Ollon Hypromat ITT did below 500 aslp, and on a road stage on this same climb she did 523 aslp, showing the high-level performance of Holmgren, who extended her Lidl Trek contract recently until 2028.
Holmgren won the GC and three stages against very strong competition, being one of the best Canadian talents from their golden generation of prospects, with many other great riders coming from this cold country.
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