Lucie Fityus excited to compete in first Tour de France Femmes

Since Lucie Fityus began biking on the age of 11, she has been requested one query time and time once more: Will you race the Tour de France?

The Newcastle-born rider will be capable to reply “sure” to that query when she strains up for the opening stage of the Tour de France Femmes on Saturday night time, AEST.

Fityus is competing in her maiden Tour de France Femmes, and is one among seven Australians taking part on this yr’s tour.

Racing for French group St Michel-Desire Residence-Auber93, Fityus can be teammates with fellow Aussie Emily Watts.

Chatting with ABC Sport forward of her first tour, Fityus mentioned pleasure was the emotion she feels most.

“It has been a extremely lengthy journey. I began once I was 11 or 12 again in Newcastle on the Velodrome.

“It is taken years to get thus far. It has been a extremely, actually regular form of construct since I used to be youthful.

“So, I am actually excited for it.”

Fityus mentioned she solely obtained into the game as a result of, rising up, she would copy no matter her brother would do.

So when she noticed his mates racing on the Velodrome, she jumped on the alternative after they invited her into the game.

“My mother and father aren’t biking individuals in any respect, so I wasn’t launched to it by my mother and father.

“[My brother’s] pals obtained him into it, after which they obtained me into it.”

Now knowledgeable bicycle owner residing in Spain, Fityus has taken half in huge races this yr, together with Paris-Roubaix Femmes and Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes.

The Australian can even garner the help of the locals through the tour, who take pleasure in cheering for a French group as a lot as they take pleasure in cheering for French riders.

“It is fairly particular to be competing within the largest French race with a French group.”

A maiden tour additionally means a brand new type of preparation to sort out the nine-stage occasion, which ends with two huge mountain levels.

For Fityus, this meant becoming a member of her teammates on a camp at excessive altitude, spending two and a half weeks above 1,800 metres of elevation.

“This assists in form of naturally elevating your crimson blood cell degree in your physique, so that you just then have extra oxygen going round your blood,” she mentioned.

“The results final for about three weeks, and that is a bit bit completely different. I have not achieved that earlier than.”

The Tour de France Femmes begins on Saturday night, AEST, within the Brittany area of north western France, with a 78.8-kilometre stage from Vannes to Plumelec.