Olympic time trial champion Annemiek van Vleuten has taken the yellow jersey in the women’s Tour de France with an impressive solo victory in the Vosges Mountains.
The 39-year-old Dutchwoman won the seventh and penultimate stage after a 62-kilometer solo run on the Grand Ballon with a lead of 3:26 minutes ahead of compatriot Demi Vollering and is now in front of the double after triumphing at the Giro d’Italia.
Van Vleuten replaced Marianne Vos at the top of the overall standings and is now 3:14 minutes ahead of Vollering. This means that the overall victory on the final stage to La Super Planche des Belles Filles should hardly be stolen from the three-time road world champion.
“It was a roller coaster ride after I was ill. It’s unbelievable. My mentality is to attack. I had to make up some time. I just survived six days. The stage was right for me,” said van Vleuten, who had complained about stomach problems in the first few days.
Van Vleuten attacked on the Col du Platzerwasel, the penultimate climb, and shook off Vollering in the process. After that, the exceptional driver continued to increase her lead. Only Vollering kept the gap within limits, behind them there were already large time gaps. Vos lost more than a quarter of an hour, and third-placed overall Katarzyna Niewiadoma from Poland also lost more than five minutes.
The women’s tour, which was revived this year, ends on Sunday with the difficult final climb in Planche des Belles Filles. There, Lennard Kämna missed the stage win by 100 meters in the men’s tour when he was caught up by the top stars Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard shortly before the finish line.