After attacking a few kilometers from the finish, the Frenchwoman signed a historic victory in the women’s Tour de France, during the 6th stage, on Friday.
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Tears of happiness. For the first time in the young history of the women’s Tour de France (3rd edition), a French woman, Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT), raised her arms at the finish line. At 23, the Breton runner broke away from the pack to finish alone on Friday, August 16.
On the heights of the Vosges between Remiremont and Morteau, during the sixth stage, Cédrine Kerbaol surprised everyone on the Côte des Fins, 15 kilometres from the finish, held her own until the end, and narrowly missed taking the yellow jersey. She remains 16 seconds behind the Polish Katarzyna Niewiadoma, who remains in the lead of the general classification.
Step 6: Cédrine Kerbaol’s day of glory
Cédrine Kerbaol (CERATIZIT-WNT) raises her arms in Morteaux and becomes the first Frenchwoman to raise her arms in the Women’s Tour de France! The best young rider of the last edition is ahead of a peloton led by Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Liane Lippert (Movistar).
The race was nevertheless led for a long time by a large breakaway, made up of 18 riders with 87 kilometres to go. But if the trio made up of Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx-Protime), Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez) and Justine Ghekiere (AG Assurance) gave the rest of the group the slip with 25 kilometres to go, it completely exploded in the final difficulty of the day, to leave room for the Breton, 4th in the general classification before the start. She won ahead of the Dutch Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a bike), who was part of the breakaway, and the German Liane Lippert (Movistar).
“I’ve been itching for two or three days now, I was telling myself that I wanted to do something. On the climbs, I felt really good, my teammates put me in the best possible position to place myself.”enthused Cédrine Kerbaol on France 2, after bursting into tears in the arms of her loved ones once she crossed the finish line. “I have never won such a legendary race, and never been so close to the girls in front. We will do everything to get the yellow jersey.”she warned.
Last year’s Tour winner, Dutchwoman Demi Vollering, who suffered a dramatic fall the day before, reassured herself by finishing in the same time as Niewiadoma, 21 seconds behind Kerbaol. The Tour de France switches this weekend to the Alps for its last two stages, where the race should be decided.