The second stage of the Tour de France women was synonymous with chaos for Quebecers Simone Boilard and Olivia Baril, who both fell on Monday on the 136-kilometre course leading to Provins.
Posted yesterday at 2:19 p.m.
Eighth on the Champs-Élysées the day before, Boilard had big ambitions for this second outing in the competition, but clashes at the end of the race thwarted his plans. Despite the force of the impacts, the leader of the St Michel–Auber93 WE team was able to reach the finish in 80e square.
In the end, she fell 3 min 22 s behind the leading trio made up of the winner, the Dutch Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma), who sprinted ahead of the Italian Silvia Persico (Valcar-Travel & Service) and Poland’s Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon/SRAM Racing).
“I’m very disappointed, that’s for sure. I was aiming for a good finish again today [lundi] and I think the course suited me perfectly. Unfortunately, I had two heavy crashes on the last lap of the circuit and hurt myself. I lost precious time for the general classification and my goal will simply be to recover well for the next stages”, commented Boilard at the end of the day.
PHOTO JEFF PACHOUD, AGENCY FRANCE-PRESSE
Marianne Vos
Baril and her teammates at Valcar-Travel & Service also had their share of mishaps, when she and three other members of her squad crashed during the event. Shaken on the spot, the cyclist from Rouyn-Noranda was able to get back in the saddle quickly to conclude the race and congratulate Persico on his performance.
“For us, it’s a good bad day,” said Baril, 127e of the day (+ 8 min 29 s). “Almost all of our girls fell, but Silvia still finished second, so it’s good for the team. Personally, there is not too much harm and I will be ready for tomorrow [mardi]. »
Magdeleine Vallieres-Mill
The only other representative of La Belle Province in action on French roads this week, Magdeleine Vallières-Mill was able to avoid damage, which was not the case for her teammates at EF Education-TIBCO-SVB.
The Sherbrooke resident thus slowed down to lend a hand to the runners involved in incidents, before crossing the finish line at 111e step (+ 5 min 13 s).
“My role was to stay close to my teammates and make sure they weren’t wasting energy for nothing. I pulled the girls up for the last circuit and then waited for the ones that got caught in the falls to bring them back. Fortunately, none of our girls were seriously injured,” said Vallières-Mill, noting in passing the performance of her American teammate Veronica Ewers (26e+ 34 sec).
By virtue of her victory, the triple world champion Marianne Vos will undertake the third stage wearing the yellow jersey of leader, this Tuesday. The participants will start in Reims, before stopping in Épernay, 134 kilometers further.