Cycling: second in the Giro, the Frenchwoman Juliette Labous offers herself a promising podium two weeks before the Tour

2023-07-11 01:32:24

What if Juliette Labous performed a miracle on the Grande Boucle? After a seventh place in the Vuelta, the 24-year-old rider finished second in the Giro Donne 2023 this Sunday, behind Annemiek Van Vleuten, crowned for the fourth time in the Giro d’Italia, at the end of the 9th and last stage won in the sprint by the Italian, Chiara Consonni.

Labous thus climbs for the first time in her career on the podium of a Grand Tour and becomes the first Frenchwoman since 2014 to accomplish this performance, at the time Pauline Ferrand-Prévot had finished second on the Italian roads. A very good omen before the start of the women’s Tour de France (July 23 – July 30) where the Team DSM rider should play the leading roles with Demi Vollering and Annemiek van Vleuten.

For her sixth participation in the Giro, the Frenchwoman and companion of Clément Berthet, the AG2R Citroën rider currently on the men’s Tour, showed great consistency in the pink race, climbing the podium several times ( 3rd on the second stage, second on the seventh stage) and stealing the place of runner-up from Veronica Ewars, who failed to keep pace in the mountains. She thus ends this Tour of Italy, almost four minutes behind the reigning world champion, Annemiek van Vleuten, 40, who was participating in her last Tour of Italy, before hanging up the handlebars at the end of the season. .