Danish champion Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig won in the sprint, in a small committee, ahead of the yellow jersey Marianne Vos in the third stage of the Tour de France on Tuesday in Epernay. The day after the nightmarish day of her FDJ-Suez team, marked by the abandonment of the other leader of the French formation, Marta Cavalli, the Dane, herself delayed in a fall, reacted by removing this stage for puncheuses in the vineyards of Champagne.
“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. “I wanted to help the team, keep my fighting spiritshe said. I knew that if I had the legs, I could play for victory. But from there to doing it, to becoming a stage winner in the Tour de France and with this jersey (of Danish champion)… My God, what more could you ask for.
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 left no chance for competition in the Avenue de Champagne and its castles from the great Champagne houses.
Marianne Vos consolidates her lead
Even Marianne Vos, leader in the general classification, had to give in to Uttrup Ludwig’s thirst for revenge. The Dutch legend, 35, nevertheless consolidated his yellow jersey by beating all his competitors on the finish line. In these last sixteen kilometers, the immense favorite Annemiek van Vleuten twice showed signs of weakness.
The leader of Movistar, winner of the Giro at the start of the month, first yielded in Mont Bernon (1 km at 4.6%) four kilometers from the line where her rivals disputed the bonuses. Back, she gave in again in the final and dropped 20 seconds on the fastest. The Dutchwoman is already nearly a minute behind two big rivals, the Polish Katarzyna Niewiadoma and the Italian Elisa Longo Borghini.