The queen stage of the Tour de France Women with Zwift will have delivered all its promises, this Saturday, between Lannemezan and the Col of Tourmalet. After a quick start, with an average of 41.4 km/h in the first hour, and several unsuccessful escape attempts, the peloton approached the ascent of the Col of Aspin with an intense placement battle.
At 5km from the summit of Aspin, the leading group had only twenty-five members, including Marta Cavalli and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig. This is the moment that Annemieck van Vleuten chose to place his first attack of the day, and get out of this group, accompanied by Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma.
In the hardest sections of the Tourmalet, nine cyclists were still in the race for victory, among them Cecilie Uttrup-Ludwig, Juliette Labous or the yellow jersey, Lotte Kopecky. In difficult and spectacular conditions – light rain, thick fog – Demi Vollering won the queen stage of the 2023 Tour de France Women, ahead of Niewiadoma by nearly 1’58 and Annemieck van Vleuten, the outgoing winner, by 2’34.
After a very nice climb, Marta Cavalli finished 8th at the top of Tourmalet. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, well helped by Marta in the last kilometers, finished in 9th position and gained a place in the general standings to finish 8th on the eve of the time trial.
Weakened by a crash on yesterday’s stage, Loes Adegeest unfortunately did not finish the stage and will not take part in the final stage in the streets of Pau and its agglomeration.
© Thibaut Mongis
