Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) moved into the yellow jersey on Stage 7 of the Tour de France Femmes with an outstanding ride that saw her attack with 85 kilometres to go, dropping all but Demi Vollering (SD-Worx).
She rode the front without help until she dropped Vollering by the top of the next climb and then it was a 62 kilometre solo effort to the line, extending her advantage all the while to take a decisive win for the stage, and move to the top of the standings with a commanding lead.
Van Vleuten, 39, appears to be getting stronger as she progresses in her career, her advanced years peers no disadvantage, and she actually claimed post-race that it was due to the extra training in her legs that she performed so well in the long-range move.
“I’m a bit older than the other girls, so I can do a bit more training so this stage is suited for me,” said van Vleuten. “I want to make something clear it’s not that my colleagues don’t train as much as I do, it’s also to do with training years and then it comes to fitness and that’s something that I’m really good at.”
“With the stage so hot, I knew if I was fit enough after being sick, it would be my day.”
Van Vleuten spends a lot of time training at altitude, most riders and teams will do camps of training in the lower oxygen conditions, but van Vleuten regularly spends months of her season preparing in the mountains, this year she has been to the Italian Alps, Andorra and the Canary Islands in a bid to prepare as well as possible for her big targets of the season, the Tour de France Femmes and the Giro Donne.
It looked as if it might not happen as well, after a nasty stomach bug at the start of the week-long tour made it even more impressive.
“It was such a rollercoaster after being sick,” said van Vleuten. “I was so sick and to win here like this is unbelievable, beautiful to finish here solo.”
“My style is always attacking and not waiting until the final. I did a recon of the stage and thought that already on the Petit Ballon it was a hard one. After six days of waiting and surviving and recovering, I wanted to make the biggest time gaps and that means going on the first climb.”
Van Vleuten said ahead of the Tour that it would be little different from targeting the Giro Donne overall, a race she won for the third time earlier in the month, but her feelings for the Tour de France are warming as she pulled on the yellow jersey.
“Before I said, for me the yellow was something for the guys and I didn’t have the feeling for it,” said van Vleuten. “But then I saw Marianne Vos riding with it, I have to say that it is a nice one and a beautiful present for the victory.”
Van Vleuten will take a lead of three minutes and 14 seconds over Vollering on the general classification into the final stage.
The Tour de France Femmes concludes with the summit finish to Stage 8 atop the Planche des Belles Filles. Watch on the SBS SKODA Tour Tracker from 11.25pm AEST, with the SBS and SBS On Demand broadcast starting at 11.30pm AEST.
