Every ship needs its captain, and when good ship Liv AlUla Jayco sets sail each day at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift it is Jeanne Korevaar at the helm.
The road captain role is an important one in any team. They’re the eyes and ears for the sports directors back in the car, they make the snap decisions when the conditions change or the race explodes.
Since joining the GreenEDGE Cycling family in 2024, the Dutch rider has become a reliable stronghold guiding the team through races. A quiet person by nature, Korevaar wasn’t sure if she had the authority and confidence to lead the team like that, but she’s embraced the role over time.
“I’ve grown into it and the team has helped me to become a road captain,” she explains. “For myself, I’m not a pure leader. I really believe in leading by example and giving good guidance. In the end, I think a good road captain gives the team confidence, is really calm, and can make good calls in racing.
“Actually, I was not super happy to be a road captain in the beginning. I know I have the experience but it’s hard to bring it into the group and I didn’t have the confidence to do it, but the team gave me the opportunity. In the end, over time, I got better at it.”
Still just 29, Korevaar’s age belies the experience she has in the bunch as a rider embarking on her 12th season in the professional peloton. She’s worked with some of the best riders in world cycling and has consistently raced at the highest level – indeed she is one of two riders on the Liv AlUla Jayco squad that has ridden every edition of the Tour de Femmes avec Zwift.
“I’ve lost count of the seasons. Of course, it doesn’t feel like I’m that woman. I know I’ve been doing it for a while, but it doesn’t feel long in seasons, especially because women’s cycling has changed so much over the years,” Korevaar says. “It’s so different. I’m really proud to still be there in the women’s peloton, but also because I’ve grown with it.”
As road captain, she wants to make sure that all her teammates are happy and cared for. As one of the most experienced riders in the team, Korevaar also wants to pass on the knowledge she has gained to the younger members of the group.
“Actually, I feel a responsibility for the whole team in the race. With young riders, I really like to help them and guide them a little bit,” Korevaar says. “Not in a top-down situation, like ‘we’re the older riders and this is what we do’, but more like helping them with small things. They’re already quite clever, but with the experience they miss sometimes, it’s nice to be able to bring it over.
“It’s good to make mistakes and to learn from it, but if you don’t have to make the mistakes first then it’s also helpful.”
A love of speed
Korevaar followed her parents into the world of cycling, but not before trying out their first passion of running. While her parents switched to cycling due to injury, the young Korevaar was drawn in by the speed that cycling afforded her.
The kick of going fast was one thing but it also allowed her to explore further than she could with running.
“I like the speed, it’s a lot higher. I think that’s definitely more fun,” she says. “I think it gives me a bit of a kick to go faster, but also if you go faster you can also go further and can make big loops. That’s also what we did as kids, we went on holiday and went bike packing. With a bike, you can go far and you can see a lot. I think that was really what I liked.”
Korevaar turned professional in 2015, right out of the junior ranks. It wasn’t something she had considered as a career, but it was a natural progression when she consistently impressed as she climbed through the ranks.
She was snapped up by the Rabo Liv squad, which would later merge with the Liv AlUla Jayco team in 2024. It saw her working with some of the world’s best riders, including multi-discipline world champion Marianne Vos.
“I never really made the decision that I wanted to be professional. When I was a junior, I was one of the best riders in the Netherlands, then you start thinking about going into a pro team,” she says. “Before that, I had dreamed about it, I think. I was really a fan of women’s cycling and watching it.
“Marianne was a big hero of mine. It was a bit crazy to be a teammate of hers, but then she is really down to earth so once you are in a team together it feels more natural. But, of course, that was a really big thing in the end.”
A world of difference
Like many riders at the time, Korevaar did not make a full-time living out of the sport. She still lived at home with her parents and studied at university on the side, gaining a degree in human movement sciences.
A lot has changed since her first races as a professional. Minimum salaries for the top tier of women’s cycling were introduced in 2020 – with GreenEDGE Cycling among the first teams to get one of the newly created Women’s WorldTeam licenses. The progression has been fast, but Korevaar has moved well with it.
“It goes step by step, so you don’t feel it so much. So that’s good, but I think it’s super nice. At least, outside of cycling I feel way more respect for me as a cyclist for doing this job. People know more about it,” Korevaar says. “When I started and was doing this full time, I always felt a bit weird. People didn’t understand what I was doing. That’s now completely different. On the other hand, in the bunch, it’s super cool that the level has gone up.”
The Tour de France Femmes, where the team’s co-title partner Liv is an important sponsor, has also played a key role in pushing the sport forward. Korevaar is racing her fifth edition and is delighted to see how it has grown through the seasons.
“It’s changed women’s cycling a lot. From there, it has grown exponentially. I can feel it as a rider, the attention on the races is so much bigger from there. In the Netherlands, also for the men the only racing that they know is the Tour,” she explains.
“Every year it gets harder. The stages have been getting longer, there’s more climbing, and still it’s very aggressive racing. I am looking forward to riding the Mont Ventoux. I’ve never done this climb, and I think it’s really cool to have this climb. I’m also just looking forward to giving it my all with the team. It’s so intense, it’s the hardest week and the best week.”
Korevaar hasn’t only got stronger as a rider, she has developed as a person, too. Helped, in part, but taking on the role of road captain with Liv AlUla Jayco.
“I think I’m a bit less shy and I’m better and better at stepping up and saying what needs to happen. It’s also an age where you’re a bit more confident in yourself,” she says.
Photo: Sprint Cycling
