A well earned rest day after a brutally tough second week

Hello from the second and last rest day at the Tour de France! We've seen another incredible week of racing with chaotic sprints and brutal mountain stages.

Luck has not been on our side in the second week as we had to say goodbye to Tiesj Benoot and Søren Kragh Andersen from the Tour, both suffering from injuries sustained in crashes during the race. Stage 13 saw our entire team brought down in a super heavy crash, which hampered our efforts and saw us nursing our injuries as we headed into the mountains. The guys dug really deep and showed great determination to make it through on the tough terrain.

Despite the bad luck, we have regrouped and remained committed to setting up the sprint opportunities for Cees Bol, while then looking to race offensively on the hilly and mountainous terrain when we could; with Mark Donovan putting in a strong performance on his Tour debut to take a stellar 14th place from a breakaway full of big-hitters on yesterday's stage 15.

As we enter the final week, spirits are not dampened aboard the Team DSM bus. We are looking forward to the final week where we'll keep believing in ourselves and fighting together to chase that top result! But first, some rest! See you out there for the last week.

Our top video from the second week

Our mechanic, Martijn Don, takes us right into the thick of the action and chaos from that crash on stage 13. We've got a lot of respect for how cool and calm our mechanics are in hectic situations!

#InsideOut at the Tour de France - Our top galleries from week two

Tweets of the Tour - Two of our faves from week two

After a hard opening week of racing it was great to be able to sit down for our traditional rest day BBQ, with both riders and staff, to enjoy a catch up and chill before the Tour de France chaos continued in week two.

With the goal of taking our race apparel to the next level, since the start of the year we’ve been producing and developing our very own custom-made apparel. Click through and check out our gallery to see how it’s made!

Making our mark at the Giro Donne

While the Tour de France has been going on, our Women’s program have been putting on a show over in Italy at the Giro d'Italia Internazionale Femminile, otherwise known as the Giro Donne.

Performing exceptionally well and consistently over the ten days of back-to-back racing, the team picked up a top ten finish on every stage, and made five trips to the podium, including three incredible wins.

Showing our collective strength, we took the battle to the other teams on all types of terrain, with Lorena finishing it off in the sprints, a hard-fought hilly breakaway win from Coryn, and Juliette up there fighting on the mountains to secure seventh place on GC - and some brilliant riding from Floortje, Leah and Liane too.

One thing is for sure, we can leave Italy with our heads held high; and a few more trophies in our suitcases!

Tweet of the week from the Giro Donne

With three stage wins, one second place, one third place, eight other top tens and seventh on GC - it is safe to say it was a very successful Giro Donne for us. What a team!

Photo of the week from the Giro Donne

We honestly can't get enough of this picture of Lorena celebrating our first win of the race on stage five, with last lead out rider Coryn posting up to celebrate in the background too. That feeling!

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