Marianne Vos could live with the fact that she just missed her second stage win in the Tour de France Femmes on Tuesday. The 35-year-old Dutch had to lose in the sprint against the Danish Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, but remains in the yellow jersey.
“Cecile really had the best legs in the last 100 meters. I gave everything, but could not beat her”, analyzed Vos, who won the second stage on Monday and thus drove Lorena Wiebes out of the yellow.
“I had to go deep, because there was a lot of driving on the climbs. The team set me off perfectly, but it was a really grueling final. I am certainly not disappointed, because I kept the yellow jersey.”
The Jumbo-Visma rider fell slightly behind the other favorites in the third stage from Reims to Épernay, but with 6 kilometers to go she managed to find the connection again. In the sprint she then just lacked some power.
“In the end I am happy that I closed the gap after releasing. In the sprint I couldn’t do more than what I did. That real acceleration was no longer there. Cecile deserved this victory.”
Fulling down in a very slippery bend
Demi Vollering also made a strong impression, although she did not come out unscathed. With about 15 kilometers to go she slipped hard, although she eventually managed to turn back and finish eighth.
“I’m not sure what exactly happened,” she said of her fall in a bend, shortly after a climb. “The roads are so slippery here. I underestimated that bend.”
“I thought I wasn’t going in so hard, but suddenly I was on the ground. This sucks. The legs were really good, but I do lose a lot of energy in that pursuit. A shame, a real shame. You don’t want that something like this happens.”
Vollering, one of the favorites for the overall victory, occupies eighth place in the standings. She is 57 seconds behind Vos. Annemiek van Vleuten (ninth on 1.14) is the third Dutch in the top ten.