The Debrief #2 - Eva van Agt's First Pro Victory at La Périgord Ladies (UCI 1.1)

“Eva from one year ago would have countered that attack immediately, just to show everyone how strong I was. This time, I didn’t.”

Welcome to The Debrief #2. For this edition, I spoke with Eva van Agt (FDJ-United SUEZ) about her first professional victory at La Périgord Ladies (1.1). And of course we also got our hands on the .fit file, so you can nose around the data yourself while reading this article.

For those who follow women’s cycling (and of course you all do. If not, get out!), Eva is probably best known as one of Demi Vollering’s super domestiques. We’ve seen her work in the mountains during Demi’s Giro victory, but also in hilly classics like Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Amstel Gold Race.
Eva is the type of rider who rarely rides for her own chances. She joined FDJ as a highly valued domestique after her time at Visma Lease a Bike. But don’t let that fool you. In this race, Eva showed that years of riding for others had also taught her something else: excellent racing instincts.

The parcours
La Périgord Ladies is a 126 km hilly one-day race starting at Lac de Rouffiac and finishing on a local circuit in Boulazac. After roughly 110 km of racing, the riders enter the final circuit containing La Combe Neuve: 1.8 km at 4.6%. Not exactly a monster climb.
But because the entire race rolls up and down, it’s the perfect profile for a race that can go in almost any direction. And that’s exactly what happened. If you want, you can relive the race here. The livestream is worth checking out. Bad video quality and commentary you can barely understand: pure French cyclisme. It doesn’t get much more French than this.

The race
Eva's victory came together from a combination of circumstances (as for any cycling race). With Karlijn Swinkels and Maeva Squiban at the startline, UAE had two of the main contenders in their team. On paper, Caroline Andersson (Liv Alula Jayco), Kathrin Schweinberger (Human Powered Health) Emma Comte (Cofidis) were also amongst the pre-race favorites. However, the lack of a clear favorite made this race perfect for a break.

Breakaway formation
The break went in rather atypical fashion when one rider attacked through the feed zone, around 40 km into the race. Generally not the most appreciated move in the peloton, but perfectly legal.
Eva happened to be perfectly positioned. Not because she expected an attack, but because she wanted to spread herself out from her teammates through the feed zone. A common trick: soigneurs can’t hand bottles to six teammates passing by together.

Eventually 11 riders make it into the break out of which 9 will battle for the win in the final: Eva van Agt (FDJ United – SUEZ), Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Development Team), Mackenzie Coupland (Liv AlUla Jayco), Babette van der Wolf (EF Education–Oatly), Caroline Andersson (Liv AlUla Jayco), Laura Molenaar (VolkerWessels Cycling Team), Emily Dixon (CANYON//SRAM Generation), Noémie Abgrall (Ma Petite Entreprise).

Looking at Eva’s power and heart rate data, it immediately becomes clear that the half hour following the attack was one of the hardest sections of the race until the real finale. Typical breakaway formation: a hard acceleration to establish the gap, followed by a more controlled pace once the break is clear.
During this phase, Eva rode 30 minutes at 238 W normalized power with an average heart rate of 165 bpm. Hard, but certainly not all-out. For context (and we’re gentleman enough not to ask directly), Eva weighs 54 kg according to ProCyclingStats.

Not dedicating 100% to this break makes perfect sense tactically. The break was decent, but not ideal for Eva. Karlijn Swinkels is fast and difficult to drop on this type of terrain, while Liv AlUla Jayco had two riders represented. There was no reason for Eva to burn unnecessary matches. And if the break were to come back, FDJ still had five strong teammates behind to play the race. So the plan was simple: do your turns, but don’t go all in.

Eva is patient
After the break had established a decent gap, the pace settled and the time gap hovered around 1.5 to 2 minutes. Things remained relatively calm until the race really kicks off again around 102km, when Karlijn Swinkels attacked on one of the steeper kickers. Babette van der Wolf immediately responded, while the others hesitated for a moment. Eva decided to close the gap herself. A 2-minute effort at 350 watts, with a big acceleration at the start.
Here came a key part: staying calm. Just because you can close an attack doesn’t mean you should counter it immediately. Eva remained patient, exactly as she put it herself: "Eva from one year ago would have countered that attack directly, show them how strong I am, this time I didn't".

And so the group was brought back together and the race continued, but from km 115 to 123 attacks follow. You can clearly see the repeated power surges in Eva’s race file as she responds to the accelerations. On the first climb of the local circuit, Andersson attacks from the back of the group. Eva follows and the two briefly get a small gap. However, Eva isn’t overly eager to ride all the way to the finish with Andersson. On the next climb they both attack several more times, but the climb simply isn’t selective enough to create real separation. And so, it becomes increasingly clear that the race is going to be decided in the final flat kilometres to the line.

Timed to perfection
Eventually, with 1.3 km to go, right after an attack by Laura Molenaar, Eva launched the move that would win her the race. Of course, every successful attack needs a bit of luck. You need a gap, and you need the riders behind to look at each other for just long enough. But watching both the race and the data, there are a few things Eva got exactly right:

1) Patience. Eva was never overly eager to attack herself. She tested the competition on the climbs, but never blindly threw in efforts that only wasted energy.
2) The anticipation gap. Eva’s positioning throughout the finale was excellent. She stayed a bit more in the back of the group, allowing her to keep overview. Also she leaves a little gap to the rider in front of her to anticipate and build speed for her own attack.
3) Attack after the attack. Laura Molenaar attacked first. Coupland closed the gap. As often happens, the group briefly relaxed after bringing the move back. That’s exactly when Eva went. Not before. Not five seconds later. Right in that small moment where everyone else had just spent a little energy.
4) The sprint vacuum. In almost every reduced bunch sprint, there is a strange moment, usually somewhere between 1.5 km and 500 m to go, where nobody really wants to attack. If you close an attack there, you risk wasting your sprint. But it’s also too early to start the lead-out. The result is this brief vacuum where everyone is waiting for a move, but no one makes one.
Eva recognized that moment perfectly.

Eventually, Eva’s patience paid off. In her race-winning effort she peaked at 810 watts before settling into roughly 350 watts 1min20s averaging almost 49 km/h on the flat run to the finish. Pretty aero that is!

Watching the broadcast, it immediately feels like the race is over. Eva gets the gap, the group hesitates, and nobody is coming back. Funny enough, Eva herself didn’t. She told me she wasn’t convinced she’d won until after crossing the finish line. Remarkable, because from the outside everything screams: the race is over.
Maybe next time she’ll know a little earlier that it’s done before it’s done, and ride to the line with just that little bit more confidence.

Anyway: Bien Joué, Eva.