Simone Boilard was not too bothered by her falls the day before during the third stage of the Tour de France women on Tuesday.
Posted at 3:50 p.m.
It was rather a slow puncture that harmed her on Tuesday and caused a new incident for the Quebecer from the St Michel–Auber93 WE team, who finally crossed the finish line at 32e row (+ 2 min 25 s).
“I was really apprehensive about the race today [mardi]especially because of my two falls yesterday [lundi]. I have good scratches, I’m achy and I have a big stiff neck, but the night felt good because with the adrenaline, I didn’t feel anything during the race,” Boilard said in an interview with Sportcom.
“It was still not an easy day. It was going really fast and that’s normally the kind of racing I like,” she added. Before the Côte de Mutigny, I had a slow puncture on my front wheel, but I had to continue the climb anyway. I forced the descent a little too much and I fell again. »
I didn’t hurt myself too much, but I’m looking forward to having a good day.
Simone Boillard
The 22-year-old athlete still keeps her spirits up, telling herself that the best days are ahead of her.
“I find it hard to be happy with my performance with all the obstacles I’m going through. I have to keep going one day at a time, I’m still learning, but I can’t wait for it to unlock. »
Several falls
In addition to Boilard, several other competitors crashed in the last 20 kilometers. Then in the lead, the Dutch Demi Vollering (Movistar) and the German Liane Lippert (DSM) fell simultaneously in a bend 15 km from the finish. Vollering tried in vain to catch up.
A group of nine riders were still in contention for a final uphill sprint. The Danish Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope) demonstrated all her power in the final meters to surprise the Dutch Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma), who remained unresponsive in the face of her opponent’s attack.
PHOTO JEFF PACHOUD, AGENCY FRANCE-PRESSE
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig
The holder of the yellow jersey finally took second place (+ 2 s), just ahead of South African Ashleigh Moolman.
Italian Silvia Persico, teammate of Quebecer Olivia Baril (92e+ 5 min 8 s) at Valcar–Travel & Service, finished in fourth place and she is still the closest pursuer of Marianne Vos in the provisional general classification (+ 16 s).
For her part, Magdeleine Vallières-Mill (EF Education–TIBCO–SVB) continued her work by supporting several of her teammates throughout the course and she crossed the finish line in 50e square (+ 2 min 39 s).
“It was a really fast race from the first moments. My teammate Veronica [Ewers] fell and I slowed down so I could help him for a while. We came back to the group that was in front of us. I continued to help Veronica and Kathrin Hammes until the last hill. Then, I didn’t have a lot of energy left for the final,” explained the Sherbrooke resident.
The women’s Tour de France will continue this Wednesday with the presentation of the fourth stage, which will be punctuated by several passes. The finish will be after 126.8 km, in Bar-Sur-Aube.