From affliction to consecration: as in a tale, preferably by Andersen, Danish champion Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig won the third stage of the Tour de France Women in Épernay on Monday, the day after a nightmarish day for his FDJ-Suez team.
Her joy was equal to the adventures experienced twenty-four hours earlier: the abandonment of her co-leader Marta Cavalli, and the minute and a half lost by the Dane, herself delayed in a fall. “It has such a flavor of revenge after the shitty day the day before,” said the Dane, in tears after this twelfth victory, the biggest of her career, at 26 years old.
To spoil nothing, will forever appear in the photo, just behind her, the legend and yellow jersey Marianne Vos, helpless. “When Cecilie started her sprint after the last corner, I was unable to follow her,” noted the Dutch puncher, who consolidated her lead at the top of the general classification over all the other competitors.
“I kept repeating to myself ‘go at least for the stage podium, at least for the podium’. And suddenly, I said to myself “it looks pretty good after all” and I gave it my all”, described the Danish theatrical, with a speaking rate even higher than the pedaling frequency.
“I wanted to help the team, keep my ‘fighting spirit’, she described. I knew that if I had the legs, I could play for victory. But from there to doing it, to becoming a stage winner in the Tour de France and with this jersey (of Danish champion)… My God, what more could you ask for? »
Van Vleuten disappoints
The selection took place on the Mutigny coast (900 meters at 12.2% average gradient), where Julian Alaphilippe had flown to win the stage and put on the yellow jersey in the 2019 Tour.
Present in a second group, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig took advantage of the falls of Demi Vollering and Liane Lipert in the descent and the misunderstanding of the leading group to make the connection six kilometers from the line.
The 26-year-old climber left no chance for competition in the Avenue de Champagne and its castles from the great Champagne houses.
In these last sixteen kilometers identical to those where Alaphilippe had shone, the immense favorite Annemiek van Vleuten twice showed signs of weakness.
The leader of Movistar, winner of the Giro at the start of the month, first yielded in Mont Bernon (1 km at 4.6%) four kilometers from the line, where her rivals fought over the bonuses.
Returning, she faltered again in the final and dropped twenty seconds on the fastest. The Dutchwoman is already nearly a minute behind two big rivals, the Polish Katarzyna Niewiadoma and the Italian Elisa Longo Borghini. Even before the 12.9 kilometers of vineyard paths of the fourth stage on Wednesday between Troyes and Bar-sur-Aube (126.8 km).
Chalky paths between the hills of which she is “not a fan in stage races because it is possible to lose the general classification on a stroke of bad luck. » After three stages, van Vleuten has no time to lose.