And to think that she was diminished. It took a virus to veil the horizon of Annemiek van Vleuten crowned without surprise Sunday first winner of the reborn Tour de France Women, at the top of the Super Planche des Belles, 33 years after the last real Great women’s loop.
“It’s a dream come true: winning a summit finish in yellow,” savored the Dutchwoman.
Yellow jersey since her victorious solo number the day before at Markstein, the 2019 world champion drove the point home by winning the 8th and final stage, at the top of the Vosges climb.
“I am so proud to be the first woman to win this new version,” blew the successor to Jeannie Longo on the list interrupted since 1989.
“Very close to giving up” at the start of the week due to a gastrointestinal virus, the huge favorite before the big start had a “comfortable advantage” on Sunday, by her own admission. A mattress of more than three minutes, on her first pursuer, her compatriot Demi Vollering after her 62 km solo raid on Saturday.
“It was an incredible day but I wanted to stay focused and not celebrate it too soon,” described the three-time Giro winner (2022, 2019, 2018).
“Ice cream and pizza tubs”
“Now I can throw myself on pots of ice cream and pizzas tonight and celebrate with the team”, dropped the one who is presented as a relentless trainer who spends half of her year in training courses at altitude. .
“Sometimes we don’t take enough time to celebrate, there’s always a race afterwards. Tonight we can party without thinking about tomorrow.”
To complete her coronation of a second stage victory, the leader of Movistar flew six kilometers from the top of the Board after an uncertain first part of the race, punctuated by mechanical incidents and three changes of mount.
Sign of the supremacy of the almost forty-year-old (in October), her rivals from SD Worx and Trek-Segafredo were reduced to accelerating when she experienced these problems with her new bike, all yellow for the occasion, at a sixty kilometers from the finish.
Like the day before, her compatriot Demi Vollering was the toughest: second in the stage, thirty seconds from the yellow jersey, she consolidated her second place on the final podium, unchanged from the day before.
The French Juliette Labous, at the foot of the podium at the start of Lure, was unable to make up for her 49 seconds behind the Polish Katarzyna Niewiadoma, third in this Tour de France. She even gave him a few meters in the final wall of the “gravel” section of the Super Board.
“I hope this is the start of something big, wishes Van Vleuten. I hope we can make this event even bigger for women. »
She will be there at forty in 2023, for a second and already last Tour. The best climber of the past five years plans to retire from the peloton at the end of the 2023 season. The brilliance of her demonstration has not made her revise her plans, she assured on Saturday. Without doubt the best news of the week for its competitors.