Coverphoto: Sportfoto.nl / SF Road 2016
Sunday it was time for one of the bigger events on the women’s calendar, La Course by Le Tour de France. The race, a one day 89km crit circuit may not be all that spectacular on its own. The tradition and history belongs to the men, but along with the men’s last stage of the TDF follows live TV coverage and much needed media attention. Riders are eager, peloton nervous, everybody wants to do well for the team, honor the sponsors and show the world how great women cycling really is. Riders give it their all which results in a high speed and difficult for breakaways to succeed. This makes it a very tough one to win.
Our team worked to keep our sprinter Emilie safe for the potential bunch sprint. Julie stayed with her to keep her out of trouble. Vita stayed at the front looking out for attacks, although never in a breakaway, she worked hard to make sure nothing got too far up the road. Cecilie worked her way into the race and helped taking over for Vita. Tone always makes sure our girls have enough water and helps closing gaps at the front. Unfortunately, Tone had a flat already early in the race and the high speed made it impossible to get back to the bunch. Meanwhile, Simona stayed with her teammates and made sure to have enough power to help out in the final.
With a nervous peloton crashes seemed inevitable and with just a few laps to go Julie found herself on the ground. Not long after Cecilie took a tumble and at the same time Vita found herself behind the crash having to stop. Luckily none of our riders got seriously injured and could roll across the finish line a little after the bunch.
In the front Simona worked hard to help Emilie into front position for the last few km’s. They were a little eager and being just two riders left they found themselves a little early at the front. As Emilie was fighting for the good positions in the last km she ended up taking some wind. When the sprint started she was a bit too far behind and did not have the extra oomph she needed for a top ten sprint. Although disappointed, she still finished to a strong 17th place in a tough race.
Australian Chloe Hosking (WiggleHigh5) won ahead of Lotta Lepistö (Cervelo Bigla) and Marianne Vos (RaboLiv). Nina Kessler (Lensworld Zannata) won the sprint classification.
Next up for the team is Prudential Ride London Saturday 30th of July and new chances for the team to shine.