Why Was Gravel Star Rosa Klöser Crying During Tour de France Time Trial?

German gravel great Rosa Klöser is making her Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and she feared it might be over prematurely.

After riding the 21km stage 4 time trial between Gevrey-Chambertin and Dijon, she posted in an Instagram  storyafterwards that she “had a little cry during and after but am OK now”.

What gives?

“Crying was maybe a bit exaggerated but it was my first ever TT and my fifth TT ride in my entire life including the actual race,” she told Velo Wednesday morning in Mâcon before the start of stage 5.

“And then my radio didn’t work so I was not getting time checks. Because I’m a very critical person I was like ‘am I going to make the time cut or not?’ But I think that was more in my head than an actual risk.”

It turned out to be true.

She crossed the line 105th, 3 minutes 50 seconds down on stage winner Marlen Reusser and more than three minutes inside the time cut. After stage four, the debutant was placed 37th overall.

Lessons from the road

She is still on a journey of discovery.

In 2025, Klöser became the latest gravel privateer to juggle road and off-road road career, racing a handful of events this year for Canyon-SRAM on the smooth stuff. This year has been the same, with her featuring in one-day races including Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders.

Off-road, she has won Traka 360 and finished fifth at Unbound, having won the 200-mile event in 2024 while still a full time PhD student.

What has she learned the most from her first Tour de France Femmes?

“It’s definitely about recovering well and being ready for every day, every day is a new day. The heat has been fine so far,” she said.

Klöser has enjoyed many parts of her Tour experience, being most surprised by a spectator-filled grand départ in Switzerland.

“I must say the first day in Lausanne was crazy,” she says. “The crowds there were just stunning, it was so good and such a good atmosphere and vibe. The entire city was buzzing, that was really special.”

Working for Niewiadoma-Phinney

Perceiving herself as a “diesel engine”, the German has shown her staying power and endurance as a support rider to Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney. The 2024 Tour de France Femmes winner is positioned sixth overall, 1 minute 9 seconds down on leader Reusser going into stage five.

“I want to get as far into the race as possible to support our GC as far as possible and then see if we can also try something,” Klöser told TV2 and Velo.

“We can see that a few teams will try to shake things up and I think we will definitely see some of the GC hitters try something. It could be anyone from Demi to definitely Pauline after yesterday – a lot of people.”

Off-road fans need not worry: Klöser is not giving up gravel yet either.

She says she will be there for October’s world championships in Australia and some American races.