For the start of the 2nd edition of the Tour de France Women with Zwift, the 154 athletes in the peloton set off from Clermont-Ferrand at 12:15 for a 123.8km circuit in the Puy-de-Dôme département.
Evita, Marta, Cecilie, Grace, Loes, Jade and Vittoria, the 7 FDJ-SUEZ cyclists had a quiet first half of the stage, marked by several unsuccessful breakaway attempts and the retirement of Spanish cyclist Mireia Benito, to whom we wish a good recovery.
The stage really began to unravel as the final 40 kilometres approached, with a clear acceleration from the peloton led by several teams, including Lizzie Deignan’s Lidl-Trek, who crossed the Saint-Hippolyte intermediate sprint in the lead.
With 23km to go, Jade Wiel, competing in her first Tour de France Femmes, and Vittoria Guazzini worked at the front of the peloton, helping to make the race harder as they approached the Côte de Durtol, the day’s main difficulty (1.7km at 7.3) less than 10km from the finish.
Belgian champion Lotte Kopecky managed to break away from a group of less than twenty riders, which included Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, Evita Muzic and Marta Cavalli for FDJ-SUEZ. Our three athletes were then the only ones working to try and catch the Belgian cyclist from SD Worx, who won in Clermont-Ferrand by 41 seconds.
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig took 8th place on the line and overall, 53 seconds behind the leader. Evita Muzic finished in 21st place overall. Marta Cavalli lost just 7 seconds in this group, confirming her return to a very high level.
© Thibaut Mongis
