They are of the same generation.

They both come from the east of France, where the first Tour de France Women of the professional era gives pride of place.

They are both climbers… The list of points in common between Juliette Labous of Team DSM and Évita Muzic of FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope is impressive.

The two riders intend to shine while the final weekend of the Tour de France, Saturday July 30 and Sunday July 31, points the tip of its nose, in the Vosges mountains that the two "regional stage" know well.  

Another common point, the two 23-year-old runners are also the first two French women in the general classification: 7th at 1 min 19 and 12th at 3 min 01. Good news as their playground arrives.

The hearty dessert on the Tour 2022 menu: a Saturday with three big category 1 climbs. On the program: the Petit Ballon (9.3 km at 8.1% average gradient), the Col du Platzerwasel (7.1 km at 8.3%) and the Grand Ballon (13.5 km at 6.7%), then a Sunday when the final finish is judged at the top of the terrible Super Planche des Belles filles. 

"Saturday's stage will be the hardest", predicts Juliette Labous.

"There is a series of three long bumps and a technical descent after the first pass. I know them well, it's often here that I come to do my first long bumps at the end of winter.  

"It's going to be fantastic to be there in front of our friends, our family. I can't wait to be in the Board to hear my name shouted. In these moments, you always find a little more strength in addition. It will be a plus mentally," announces Evita Muzic. 

“I have always taken her as a model” 

If Juliette Labous grew up and still lives in Besançon, Évita Muzic is a native of Lons-le-Saunier less than 100 km away.

As a result, the two young girls who respectively came to the road after years in BMX and cyclo-cross, often find themselves opposed to each other. 

"We've known each other for a long time," says Evita Muzic with a smile.

"Since the minimals, we have been running together every other year since we are a year apart [Évita Muzic was born in May 1999 while Juliette Labous is from November 1998, Ed]. I have always taken her a bit like model by saying to me: 'at my age, she did that'. I think that basically, it really lifted us to have a good team in Franche-Comté."  

“We are very good friends”, adds Juliette Labous.

"We were often in competition when we were little but always in the right way. We did the Pôle Espoirs de Besançon together. It's nice because we both manage to be among the best at the same time." 

The transition to the professionals will separate them.

Evita Muzic signs with the French FDJ, Juliette Labous chooses the Sunweb team, which has since become DSM, at only 17 years old.

The big jump in a foreign team does not scare him:  

"It didn't scare me at all, it made me want to. Some people told me it was too early, but I was confident. I also like to take risks. I never really doubted of my decision", she explains in the Team.

Six years later, she has risen through the ranks, as evidenced by her victory in the queen stage of the Giro Donne.

She is the leader of the team for the Tour de France which asks her to aim for "a top 5" in the final general classification.  

"As I play the general, it will be complicated to aim for a stage victory but we will see", wants to believe the runner of the DSM.  

Evita Muzic, under contract until 2025 

Évita Muzic arrived on the Tour de France in the position of lieutenant or rather "bodyguard" of Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Marta Cavalli.

But after the FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope disaster day on the second stage and the abandonment of the Italian leader, the cards were reshuffled.

She has more latitude to aim for stages, as she tried to do on the fourth between Troyes and Bar-sur-Aube, finishing second behind Marlen Reusser. 

>> To read also: Tour de France Women: on the dreaded white paths of the 4th stage, "there is a part of luck"

The FDJ knows that it has a nugget.

The French team wants to bet on her in the long term, as evidenced by the renewal of her contract in June until 2025. It must be said that the young rider does not seem to have any limits: stage winner on the Giro in 2020 , French champion 2021, 3rd in the Mont Ventoux Denivelés challenge (won by her teammate Marta Cavalli) and 2nd in the Tour de Burgos. 

A Tour de Burgos won by… her friend Juliette Labous, offering a French two-thirds podium to all cycling fans.  

💐 Final general classification at the end of the 4th and last stage of the @VueltaBurgos 🇪🇸:


1⃣🟣🇫🇷 @JulietteLabous - @TeamDSM


2⃣🇫🇷 @EvitaMuzic - @FDJ_NAqui_Fut + 17"


3⃣🇳🇱 @demivollering + 17"



🟢🇧🇪 @LotteKopecky - @teamsdworx pic.twitter.com/RToU09gcIG

– Actu CyclismeFéminin (@ActuCyclismeFem) May 22, 2022

"It's really cool to be on the podium," laughs Evita Muzic.

"The first time was on the Giro [2020]. I won the stage and she finished third." 

"We have the same profile as both a climber and a puncher. But Juliette is perhaps a little more versatile than me. She is very strong in the chrono", judges the runner from FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope.

"It's a point on which I still have to improve. But hey, I may be better in the sprint". 

Both in the French team, the two French women embody a bright future for tricolor women's cycling.

Where the Audrey Cordon-Ragot, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and other Aude Giannics experienced the transition between the relative amateurism of the early 2010s, they were able to directly join a structured professional peloton and World Tour teams, the professional level created in 2019 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). 

"We are the new generation", confirms Juliette Labous.

"And we have no pressure in relation to that," concludes Evita Muzic. 

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