Photo Credits: Tornanti CC

Team dsm-firmenich are delighted to reveal that four of their Women’s program have extended their contracts with the team; further building the core of the squad for the years to come. Francesca Barale and Esmée Peperkamp are set to race in the team’s colours into 2025, Becky Storrie continues for another year in 2024, while Elise Uijen pens a deal that sees her with the team through 2027.

Francesca Barale

Still only in her second year as a professional rider, Barale joined the team in 2022 after a promising junior career which saw her take back-to-back Italian championships in the road race, plus several other top results. Finding her feet in her opening campaign, she rode strongly in support of the team’s goals and impressed with a breakaway ride which was caught on the ramp to the finish at Binche-Chimay-Binche. This season Barale has continued to develop, playing an important role in top results for the team at races such as La Vuelta Femenina and Giro d’Italia Donne, the latter of which she was part of the late support for GC finisher Juliette Labous. Alongside her strong riding on the bike, Barale is a personable character who has a tactical racing brain and brings value to the team with her analytical approach to cycling.
 

Click here for quotes from Barale and coaching staff. 

Esmée Peperkamp

Taking up the sport of cycling relatively late, Peperkamp has settled in well since joining the team and now finds herself in her third season as a pro. Often found working tirelessly at the front of the bunch to chase back the day’s breakaway and set up the team’s finisher on the flat, Peperkamp has also proven herself to be strong in the hilly and mountainous terrain too. This was evident in 2022 already with 11^th on GC at the Tour of Scandinavia while also working for the team, but her climbing prowess was put further into the spotlight at the UAE Tour this season where she took a battling fourth place atop Jebel Hafeet, which resulted in a strong eighth overall. Since then, she’s taken part in all three of the Grand Tours, supporting the team’s goals and GC finisher Juliette Labous to impressive results such as second at the Giro d’Italia Donne where Peperkamp herself finished 15^th.
 

Click here for quotes from Peperkamp and coaching staff.

Becky Storrie

A former triathlete, Storrie made the switch full time to cycling in 2019 on her way to recovery from a diagnosis of chronic fatigue. Taking part in her first proper road race that year she has since risen through the British domestic scene and combined her riding on the road with E-sports, before joining Team dsm-firmenich for the 2023 season. Making the transition from Continental level, Storrie has played a strong role in support of some good results and high moments for the team so far. Making her Grand Tour debut at the Giro d’Italia Donne, Storrie was able to showcase her abilities on the climbs where she was part of a strong group which animated the race and saw Juliette Labous take second place on GC; Team dsm-firmenich’s first Grand Tour podium with their Women’s program.
 

Click here for quotes from Storrie and coaching staff. 

Elise Uijen

Joining Team dsm-firmenich in 2022 off the back of a strong junior career in which she won both the Dutch and European time trial championships, like many young riders, Uijen found the big jump direct from juniors to the elite ranks tough. With the support of the team and those around her though she soon settled into life as a pro and had a strong second half of the season where a combative ride saw her take the Queen of the Mountains jersey at Tour de Romandie. Starting 2023 with a bang, Elise took an incredible win on the final day at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana where she impressed in the breakaway over the climbs and won a sprint-a-deux ahead of a charging peloton. Her good form continued with a strong seventh place at Trofeo Alfredo Binda, her first WorldTour top ten, before going on to support the team to some top results and victories throughout the rest of the season so far.
 

Click here for quotes from Uijen and coaching staff.