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Danish champion Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig won the sprint ahead of yellow jersey Marianne Vos in the third stage of the Tour de France on Tuesday in Épernay, the day after her FDJ-Suez team’s nightmare day, marked by the abandonment of the other leader of the French formation, Marta Cavalli.
Danish champion Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig won in the sprint, in a small committee, in the third stage of the Tour de France on Tuesday July 26 in Épernay. A great reward for the rider and her team after a nightmarish day, during the second stage between Meaux and Provins.
“It has such a flavor of revenge after the day of m… the day before”, dropped the always very expressive Dane, in tears after this twelfth victory, the biggest of her career, at 26 years old.
The FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope race had indeed turned into disaster between falls and the abandonment of its co-leader Marta Cavalli. The general manager, Stephen Delcourt, had promised that the team would bounce back that it would not give up “its desire to mark the Tour and go down in history”.
Between Reims and Épernay, on the third stage of the Tour de France Women, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig showed that these were not just words. She won at the top of the Mutigny hill ahead of the yellow jersey Marianne Vos. The Dutch legend, 35, nevertheless consolidated his yellow jersey by beating all his competitors on the finish line.
The FDJ released from a burden
The selection took place on the Mutigny coast (900 meters at 12.2% average gradient) where Julian Alaphilippe had flown to win the stage and put on the yellow jersey in the 2019 Tour.
Present in a second group, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig took advantage of the falls of Demi Vollering and Liane Lipert in the descent and the misunderstanding of the leading group to make the connection six kilometers from the line.
The 26-year-old climber then gave the competition no chance in the Avenue de Champagne and its castles from the great Champagne houses.
This victory certainly freed the team from a burden. You just have to see the Danish champion collapse with joy in the middle of the journalists after the line. Then get up to hug the members of the FDJ staff and throw himself on Stephen Delcourt, tears of joy very close to flowing.
With AFP