Tour de France Femmes: Annemiek Van Vleuten takes stage 7 and yellow jersey with dominant solo ride

Pre-race favorite Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) bounced back from stomach problems and a resulting time loss earlier in the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift to seize the yellow jersey in Saturday’s “queen stage” of the race.

The Dutchwoman went clear with Demi Vollering (SD Worx) inside the first hour or so of racing, dropping the other riders on the first of the day’s three category one climbs.

She then shed Vollering on the second ascent and gained time on the rest of the field from there, cresting the summit of the final climb and then plunging down to the finish in Le Markstein over 3:26 clear of her compatriot.

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ Suez Futuroscope) won a three-woman sprint for third, 5:16 behind. Juliette Labous (Team DSM) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), who had done the bulk of the riding on the final climb, were a further two seconds back.

It was a dominant display by Van Vleuten and puts the 39-year-old into a commanding position heading into Sunday’s final stage of the race.

“It was such a rollercoaster after being sick,” she said. “I was so sick, and then to win here like this is unbelievable. And beautiful to finish here solo. Incroyable.”

Asked if she had planned to attack so early on the stage, she confirmed it was a deliberate decision.

“For sure I had to try it, because I was behind. I lost some time [earlier in the race], some seconds. And my style is always attacking, and not waiting until the final. I did recon the stage and I saw already that Le Petit Ballon was a hard one. This was such a hard stage that I knew that if I would be fit enough after being sick, it would be my day.

“After six days waiting and surviving and recovering, I wanted to make the biggest time gaps. And that also means going on the first climb. I am a little bit older than the other girls so I can do a lot of training, so this stage was really suited to me.”

Part of the reason for Van Vleuten’s superiority has previously been attributed to training long distances and also with male riders. She commented on her buildup for races in this regard.

“I want to make something clear. It is not that my colleagues should train as much as I do, it also has something to do with training years,” she said. “I have a lot of capacity and then it comes down to fitness, and that is something I am really good in. And this stage suited that really well. If my colleagues continue for some more years they can for sure also do it.”

She jumped up seven places to first overall and will begin Sunday’s final stage well clear of the rest. Vollering is 3:09 back, Niewiadoma at 4:20 and Labous is at 5:09. Uttrup Ludwig and Silvia Persico (Valcar-Travel & Service) are fifth and sixth, just under six minutes in arrears.

“Before the yellow was for me something of the guys, and I didn’t have a feeling with it,” Van Vleuten said about the maillot jaune. “But then I saw Marianne Vos riding with it. I have to say it is a nice one. It is a beautiful extra present of this beautiful victory.”

Race blows apart in the high mountains

Day seven of the Tour de France Femmes was the queen stage of the race and featured a ferocious 127.1-kilometer course between Sélestat and Le Markstein. There were three first category climbs; the Col du Petit Ballon, a 9.4km climb averaging 8 percent, the Col du Platzerwasel, 7.1km at 8.3 percent and, after the intermediate sprint at Odoren and the final climb of the Grand Ballon, topping out at 120km and averaging 6.6% over 13.9km.

This last climb also included a bonus section at km 110.5. The summit of the Grand Ballon was followed by a downhill/flat 7.5km to the finish line. It was the first stage in the high mountains, and would upend the general classification.

There were two non-starters in Sélestat, Marlen Reusser (SD Worx) and Rachele Barbieri (Liv Racing Xstra), but the injured Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) was deemed well enough to line out. However she was dropped early on and would ultimately withdraw.

After relentless attacking a group of 33 riders had formed after 28km of racing and raced onto the start of the day’s first climb, the Col du Petit Ballon. Race leader Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) was in trouble there and was dropped, while Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) and Demi Vollering (SD Worx) went clear early on the ascent. The latter had started the day sixth overall and became the virtual race leader.

Vollering led Van Vleuten over the top of the climb, while lone chaser Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) was one minute back and six chasers – Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, Grace Brown and Eva Muzic (all FDJ Suez Futuroscope), Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), Silvia Persico (Valcar-Travel & Service) and Juliette Labous (Team DSM) – were 2:30 adrift.

Van Vleuten was briefly distanced by Vollering on the descent but they joined back up together and raced onto the start of the Col du Platzerwasel. At that point Longo Borghini was 1:35 behind and the six rider chase group with Niewiadoma, Uttrup Ludwig and others were slightly further back at 2:50.

Brown was dropped from the chase group on the climb, while Urška Žigart (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) had got up to them and joined in the chase. Out front, Van Vleuten was going too quickly for Vollering, who was dropped. She crossed the summit 25 seconds back, this gap putting Van Vleuten into the virtual maillot jaune.

Longo Borghini was a massive four minutes back at that point, while the chase group—led over the summit by Niewiadoma, Uttrup Ludwig and Persico—were at 5:20 and losing more ground.

Bringing it home for the maillot jaune

Van Vleuten was in dominant form and had more than compensated for the time she lost earlier in the week due to stomach problems. She had started the day eighth, 1:28 behind Vos, who was far back and clearly out of the yellow jersey.

The Dutch leader raced through the finish line for the first time with 54km remaining, and then continued through the intermediate sprint point in Odoren. From there she had 34.5km to the finish line and was in an increasingly dominant position by then, a full 1:45 in front of Vollering and 5:10 ahead of Longo Borghini. The six-rider chase group was a further minute adrift then.

Van Vleuten took the bonus on the final climb and was showing no signs of weakening. Muzic was dropped by the case group and Persico too went south about ten minutes later. The four others caught Longo Borghini soon afterwards; at that point, with 12.4km left, Van Vleuten was 3:32 ahead of Vollering and 6:18 ahead of Niewiadoma, Uttrup Ludwig, Labus, Zigart and Longo Borghini.

Persico had been chasing hard and rejoined the group. Niewiadoma attacked immediately and drew Labous and Uttrup Ludwig clear, doing all of the pacesetting. Her driving was having only a small effect on the gap, though; Van Vleuten went over the summit of the climb with 7.5km to go with an advantage of 6:00. Vollering remained sandwiched in between, 3:39 behind the lone leader.

Van Vleuten plunged down the descent and started celebrating inside the final kilometers, beaming at the camera in celebration of her yellow jersey. Vollering contined riding hard and crossed the line 3:26 back, while behind the three chasers finally started working together after Niewiadoma’s strong efforts, swapping turns to reduce their deficit somewhat.

Uttrup Ludwig won the sprint for third, 5:16 behind, with Labous and Niewiadoma a further two seconds in arrears. It was a decisive day, and completely transformed the general classification in the race.