The 2022 Tour de France Femmes was decided in the Vosges mountains, during a brutal seventh stage with three category-one climbs. Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten attacked on the second climb, then opened up a four-minute gap on the final push of the day, a grueling 3,163-foot ascent of the Grand Ballon. It was the hardest day of the Tour, and with another mountain stage coming the next day, recovery was crucial. But with their legs fried, their cortisol levels soaring, and their nervous systems cranked in fight-or-flight mode, would the riders actually be able to sleep properly?
Surprisingly, the answer was yes—or at least, mostly. Nine of the Women’s Tour riders were wearing Whoop bands on their wrists; their data, which was published earlier this year in Sports Medicine—Open, showed that the riders got an average of 7.6 hours of sleep that night, compared with an overall average of 7.7 hours both before and after the Tour. They did, however, spend a little more time than usual in light sleep and less in restorative REM sleep. Whether that matters in any practical sense is the fundamental question confronting…
