Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) unleashed a truly dominant performance on the queen stage of the Tour de France Femmes, attacking early and winning by three minutes and 26 seconds.
It was on the first of three hard climbs that van Vleuten launched her attack off the back of a fast tempo from Movistar teammate Aude Biannic, jumping away with Demi Vollering (SD-Worx) as the rest of the contenders had little answer to the assault.
Van Vleuten made the pace all by herself, but her Dutch compatriot wasn’t able to withstand the pressure and dropped off near the top of the second climb the day, leaving van Vleuten to solo clear for the stage win and into the yellow jersey by an impressive margin.
That the performance came 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 is in the yellow jersey by three minutes and 14 seconds over Vollering, with Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) sitting in third overall, four minutes and 33 seconds adrift.
“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 attacked on the first climb of the Petit Ballon to drop all riders except Demi Vollering (SD-Worx), powering clear of Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) who was solo in her pursuit of the front pair.
Vollering wasn’t contributing to the pace-making, just trying to hang onto the rear wheel of van Vleuten, but she wasn’t able to follow an acceleration in the final kilometre to the top of the second climb of the day, van Vleuten going clear in the lead of the race with still 62 kilometres to go.
From there, it was a case of van Vleuten continuing to extend her lead on the stage and moving herself into a decisive advantage in the general classification. Behind, Vollering got herself into difficulty on the final ascent of the Grand Ballon, visibly struggling as Longo Borghini hung off the front of the chasing group of Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), Urska Zigart (BikeExchange-Jayco), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope), Juliette Labous (Team DSM), Silvia Persico (Valcar-Travel & Service).
Longo Borghini was caught by the group, largely led by the pace-making of Niewiadoma and Uttrup Ludwig as Persico succumbed to the temp and dropped away.
Van Vleuten moved into the yellow jersey with her ride taking her to a minute and second lead in the general classification.
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.
