Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) took her first ever WorldTour win by the thinnest of margins on stage 4 of the Tour de France. The versatile 22-year-old out-sprinted race leader Demi Vollering (SD Worx-ProTime) on rain-soaked roads in Liège on Wednesday.
The lumpy stage from Valkenburg saw Pieterse and Vollering get clear alongside Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) and Pieterse’s teammate Pauliena Rooijakkers on the famous Côte de la Roche aux Faucons. Pieterse, Vollering, and Niewiadoma held on to battle it out in the finale, where Niewiadoma tried to go long. Vollering chased her down, and then Pieterse launched her sprint.
Vollering came oh-so-close to matching her Dutch compatriot, but Pieterse took the win. Vollering maintained her GC lead on the day with Pieterse moving into second overall.
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How it happened
- The Ardennes-style stage took the Tour de France Femmes from the Netherlands into Belgium, and it threw some proper Classics weather at the peloton, with heavy rain falling on and off throughout the day. Chloé Dygert and Neve Bradbury of Canyon-SRAM, Ane Santesteban (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez) were among those who crashed on the wet roads.
- Sara Martín of Movistar attacked off the front and braved the conditions alone for a while, but the peloton kept her on a relatively short leash and the favorites started to come to the fore as the race neared some of the iconic climbs of Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
- Martín was caught with around 50 km to go, and then others tried their luck, including Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal), who made multiple attempts to get clear before succeeding, at least for a time, on the Côte des Forges. SD Worx, however, came to the front to set a hard tempo on the run in to the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons. Once the climb started, Vollering herself was the one putting the hammer down.
- The race leader’s tempo brought Martín back and dropped one rider after another until it was only Vollering, Pieterse, Rooijakkers, and Niewiadoma at the front. Another surge by Vollering dropped Rooijakkers before long, leaving three riders in the lead. A chase group formed behind, but the firepower off the front and the gap of more than 20 seconds made it clear that the trio would battle for the win.
- Half a kilometer from the line, Niewiadoma rolled the dice with an all-out attack. Vollering was quick to respond, with Pieterse slotting in behind Vollering. Although Niewiadoma kept pushing, she was unable to create any daylight.
- With some 200 meters to go, Pieterse launched from the back. Vollering took the opportunity to get into Pieterse’s slipstream before opening up her own sprint inside the last hundred meters, and the two were practically even at the line, where neither rider could be sure she had won. After multiple minutes had elapsed, the race jury determined that Pieterse had taken the victory. Vollering settled for second with Niewiadoma a more distant third.
I knew they were riding for GC and I’m just here for the stage while I’m fresh, so I could [play] poker a bit. I knew Kasia would attack and Demi would have to follow, so I just tried to keep a poker face and keep it for the sprint. I went quite early in the end but I have never been here before so I didn’t know where the finish line was.
—Puck Pieterse after her victory.
Brief analysis
- The weather may have thrown a spanner into the works for several would-be contenders on the day, but Vollering and SD Worx executed the plan expected of them, putting pressure on the field and setting up Vollering to make her move on the steep stuff. That Niewiadoma, who won La Flèche Wallonne earlier this year, might follow her came as hardly a surprise, but cyclocross and mountain bike star Pieterse was conspicuously strong on the day as well, and her fast finish was clearly on the minds of her rivals in the finale.
- Less confident in her sprint than Pieterse or Vollering, Niewiadoma tried an attack that did not appear to surprise either of the other two riders out front. Vollering was the one to respond, with Pieterse quickly slotting in behind her, saving up energy for the sprint.
- When Pieterse jumped, she quickly powered to a small gap, but Vollering seemed to have played the finish perfectly, letting Pieterse take the wind for a few precious seconds. When Vollering launched her own sprint, she rapidly made up ground for the first few moments, but the riders were neck-and-neck in the closing meters. In the end, Pieterse had done just enough to take the win.
Up next
Stage 5 will take the peloton from Bastogne in Belgium into France, finishing in Amnéville after 152.5 km. With some small hills on the profile and an uphill run to the line, it is tough to say whether this will be a stage for the break or the sprinters. The more versatile fast finishers looking like the favorites to take the win for this first Tour de France Femmes stage in France itself.
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