When Élise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM) is doing a stage race, it is more likely than not that she will wear polka-dots at some point during the race.
The 30-year-old Swiss climber who came to cycling relatively late after finishing a medical degree has amassed a collection of mountain jerseys through the last years, winning the KOM classification in the 2021 and 2022 Women’s Tours as well as the 2022 Itzulia Women and this year’s Tour de Suisse and placing high in many other races.
But as Chabbey revealed in an interview with Cyclingnews ahead of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, the mountain jersey isn’t a specific goal for her.
“I think it’s just my way of racing and attacking. I like to attack on the top of the climb because I feel like this is where it’s the hardest for people to follow. It’s also to go into the downhill because I like the downhills, so it’s just my way of racing. Sometimes I have points for the mountain jersey and then I have it, but it has never really been a goal in itself,” says Chabbey.
Once she wears the jersey, though, Chabbey doesn’t just relinquish it. If picking up mountain points is an option that doesn’t take too much out of her, she tries to do so, but the main goal is to win a stage or finish high in the general classification.
“Of course, it’s nice to go on the podium and wear the jersey. In the Tour de Suisse, for instance, I was really happy to go on the podium in my home country every day. It’s nice to have it for sure, but we always go first for GC or a stage win with the team, and then the mountain jersey is a bonus,” she explains.
“When I have it and I know it’s possible to keep it and it’s not such a big effort to go for points, then, yeah, it’s nice.”
The upcoming Tour de France Femmes is the highlight of Chabbey’s and her team’s 2023 season, and they have ambitious plans for the race.
“The Tour will be really hard this year. We did the recon, and every stage is super, super hard. I think stage wins and GC will pretty much go together. We didn’t have the meeting yet, so I’m not sure exactly what the strategy will be for every day, but overall, the team is quite strong with different types of riders,” Chabbey looked at a well-rounded Canyon-SRAM Tour squad.
“I think we can go for a hard race every day. The goal will be to go for a stage win, and last year, Kasia Niewiadoma was third overall. She showed that she can be among the best, and I think she can do so again this year. If we can reach the GC podium, that would be a great result for the team,” she explained that Niewiadoma would probably be the team’s GC leader.
Asked about her personal ambitions, Chabbey made clear what ranked higher in her mind: “I think it’s better to win a stage. I think I would go for that,” she said.
In her career so far, Chabbey has won the Swiss non-UCI race Berner Rundfahrt in 2019, the 2020 Swiss championships, and stage 1 of the 2021 Tour de Suisse as well as the 2022 Mixed Relay World Championships with the Swiss national team. However, she has a string of top results in stage races and classics alike. A stage win in the Tour de France Femmes would be another step up or, failing that, the mountain jersey.
“In the Tour, the mountain jersey is really a goal for a lot of people, everybody wants to be on the podium. We saw last year that Demi Vollering won the mountain jersey at the end, it’s really one of the strongest who will win it,” Chabbey pointed out that she would have strong competition if she were to go for the polka-dot jersey.
Nevertheless, the profile of the opening stage around Clermont-Ferrand is well-suited for an attack on the stage that could also net the mountain jersey as the day’s only classified climb is less than ten kilometres from the finish.
“For sure, it will be one of the strongest in the bunch who will get it, because whoever is first on the hill will maybe also be first on the finish line. I want to be aggressive and try to go for the stage,” Chabbey promised that she and her team would go all-in from the start of the race.
