Even distanced in the final towards Liège, the French women remain in the race for the podium

A notch below Demi Vollering and Katarzyna Niewiadoma, on Thursday, Evita Muzic, Juliette Labous and Cédrine Kerbaol remain in ambush in the general classification.

A blow to the head or a simple return to reality? After two first days of caution, the French headliners of the women’s Tour de France missed their first opportunity to shine, Wednesday August 14, on a 4th stage that looked like Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The Redoute and Roche-aux-Faucons hills, particularly generous rain… All the ingredients were there to taste the flavor of the oldest of the classics, Cédrine Kerbaol’s favorite race.

All smiles at first, the latter was preparing something and had warned that a “magician never revealed his secrets”. She ultimately failed, like the others, to keep up with the pace of the trio Demi Vollering-Puck Pieterse-Katarzyna Niewiadoma, who crossed the finish line 47 seconds before her. The best young rider of the last edition even finished behind her two compatriots Juliette Labous and Evita Muzic, who arrived 29 seconds behind the winner, Puck Pieterse.

The women’s Tour de France is indeed blue-white-red, but not in the colours of France, since the first four stages were won by Dutch women. “I felt good, but I missed a bit when they accelerated in Roche-aux-Faucons. I’m disappointed, but not dejected. There will still be good days.”reacted Labous on the finish line, absolutely soaked, like the whole peloton.

Evita Muzic, anxious not to catch a cold, rushed to the bus to change, even if it meant delaying her meeting with the media. She could still be heard briefly talking to her bodyguard, Léa Curinier, who arrived a minute after her: “I was in the group with Juliette, I think I lost time on Kasia [Niewiadoma]“Between the previous day’s time trial and today’s outburst, the leader of the FDJ-Suez team is 47 seconds behind her Polish rival, also a contender for the podium.

Obviously, the point of reference is not Demi Vollering. The yellow jersey, huge favourite to succeed her own champion, seems out of reach and has already widened the gap on all her competitors before even arriving in the mountains. But other, less lofty ambitions remain. Especially since Puck Pieterse (22 years old), currently 2nd overall, has no reference in the mountains. If we look at the glass half full, we see that never before have two French women managed to figure in the top 10 of the race so early.

Juliette Labous is in 5th place (56″ behind Vollering), her best ranking at this stage. Best young rider of the previous edition, Cédrine Kerbaol is currently 9th. Thirteenth, Evita Muzic has not said her last word on moving up the rankings once the road climbs. But to make up time, we will probably have to wait until the first Alpine stage on Saturday. “I often go crescendo and that’s good, because the last two are the hardest, assured the Franche-Comté woman on France Télévisions. I’m looking forward to the mountains and we’re going to get closer to home, so the motivation is also increasing”.