On Saturday’s queen stage of the first Tour de France Femmes, Dutch duo Annemiek van Vleuten and Demi Vollering destroyed the field with an attack on the first of three big climbs. Three time and current Giro d’Italia champion van Vleuten, a little ill earlier in the week, went solo on the second climb to earn the big win and seize the yellow jersey from Marianne Vos, who cracked hard.
You can watch the inaugural Tour de France Femmes at FloBikes.
The Course
It was time for the first of two consecutive days in the mountains. The Tour Femmes’ penultimate day featured three Cat. 1 climbs over 127.1 km. The final ascent was Grand Ballon, 13.9 km of 6.6 percent, cresting 8 km from the line in Le Markstein and marked by a time bonus midway up. It was another hot day.
🚲 Stage 7 / Étape 7 🚲
🚩 @villedeselestat
🏁 Le Markstein Fellering📏 127,1 km
⏰ 13:30 CEST > 17:16 CEST
⛰ 3x 1⃣c
💚 km 93,1
🅱️ km 110,7#TDFF #WatchTheFemmes pic.twitter.com/nV9uxnNoMe— Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) July 30, 2022
Not only did Stage 4 winner Marlen Reusser not start on Saturday because of a concussion suffered in a Stage 6 crash, but double stage winner Lorena Wiebes also abandoned Stage 7 early in the day to heal from Friday’s carnage. Wiebes was wearing Vos’s green jersey.
Marlen Reusser will not start in the 7th stage of @LeTourFemmes. A hospital examination revealed that she suffered a concussion after her crash. Rest is necessary to recover. Reusser was an important link in the Team SD Worx team. She won the stage to Saint-Dié-Des-Vosgues. pic.twitter.com/dtDr1Lk3Gu
— Team SD Worx (@teamsdworx) July 29, 2022
After fighting hard at the start of today’s stage to help the team, unfortunately @lorenawiebes has had to abandon @LeTourFemmes 😔
You can be proud of the 2 wins, Lorena. Join us in wishing her a speedy recovery! 💪🏻 #TDFF pic.twitter.com/fEmlTiJGhT
— Team DSM (@TeamDSM) July 30, 2022
The first Cat. 1 was Grand Ballon’s little sister Petit Ballon, 9.4 km at 8 percent. The pace was very fast heading to its foot, with a few bids to break away.
World champion Elisa Balsamo and QOM leader Femke Gerritse skipped away, soon to be joined by 30 others. By as soon as the road kicked up, action in the yellow jersey group nullified the escape. Eighth place van Vleuten and sixth place Vollering sprang away. This move unhitched Vos.
🚨 La #MaillotJauneLCL est distancée !
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…