‘Go girls’is written in large yellow letters on a banner near a gray stone house at the foot of the Côte de Cadoudal. The peloton has already transferred the steep climb to the local loop around the Breton village of Plumelec. Now a train of Visma-Lease A Bike (Lab) forces the thinned peloton to a ribbon, from a few kilometers before the last slope to the finish.
The opening ride of the Tour de France passes by rapidly. Only 78 kilometers the women have to cover, so that all energy comes out in a short time. “I expect fireworks,” predicted the Dutch Visma lab rider Marianne Vos in advance. She already had the route sharp in her memory, since she traveled to Brittany a few days before the opening day to explore the course. “The course goes on and down, is sometimes very narrow. Everyone will be in front [in het peloton] want to sit down. ”
It becomes fireworks, with a crucial role for Visma-Lab. Eva van Agt (28) drives as fast as she can go on the last corner to the 1.7 kilometer long climb, with her teammates Vos (38) and the classification rider Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (33) in the wheel. It is the veterans who have to do it for Visma-Lab: “The two queens,” she calls Van Agt. “They are very complementary. Pauline focuses on the long climbing, Marianne is more a puncher.”
If Van Agt drove out just under a kilometer before the line, Vos and Ferrand-Prévot have wasted little energy. Then it’s time for part two of ‘Plan-Visma’: an attack by Ferrand-Prévot. At about 600 meters from the finish she hits a hole with the competition. She takes ten meters, fifteen meters. Vos dives into the wheel of the Mauritian rider Kim Le Court (AG-Sinsurance). “I know how strong Pauline is, she had a good chance to win. But the peloton also contained firepower,” says Vos afterwards.
As loud as they can, the French along the side of the road encourage them to the top. ‘Pau Pau’, there is plates on their yellow-black plates. Ferrand-Prévot is a greatness in France, thanks to its ten world titles in mountain biking. After her gold at the Olympic Games in Paris, she decided to return to the road. Within now and three years she wants to win the Tour – this year she still sees a learning school.
Le Court indeed still has something in the legs and threatens to catch up with the pair again. Vos switches super fast: if she does not bet her sprint and goes over her teammate, the Visma women end up as number two and three. A few meters before the finish, she shoots past Ferrand-Prévot, who finishes third as third.
An emotional emotion follows. “Thank you”, Vos told Ferrand-Prévot, who was already driving with her in the Rabobank team with her.” We need few words to understand each other, “she says afterwards.
If Ferrand-Prévot comes to the team bus, dozens of fans have already gathered. While cycling, she says it was always the intention that Vos would win. “When I saw her pass by, I thought” practice, this is so cool. “” “That she herself misses the chance to get the yellow in her first tour in her first tour, she finds no problem:” I didn’t really want yellow. It might be stupid to say, but I don’t need extra pressure on me. “
The helpers who drove the Visma-Lab train to the final climb also fall in their arms cheering. “She’s really crazy, isn’t it?” Calls the British Imogen Wolff over Vos. “She shows again that she is probably the biggest female cyclist ever,” says team leader Jos van Emden. “I am not objective, but she continues to prove that she is the best.”
When Vos hears that Van Agt her and Ferrand-Prévot calls the “Queen”, she bounces back: “Today Eva was the queen, she really climbed great on the final climb. I did not expect such a start of the Tour. We hope that we can continue like this.”