Tour de France Femmes - Stage 6: Kerbaol wins for France, Lippert third again
TOUR Online
· 16.08.2024
She formed a heart with her hands as she crossed the finish line of stage 6 of the Tour de France Femmes and received the cheers of an entire nation. Cedrine Kerbaol from the German team Ceratizit-WNT secured the first French stage win in the still young history of the competition in its third year. The 23-year-old from Breton attacked at the summit of the final climb of the day, a good ten kilometres before the finish, and built up a lead on the subsequent descent that she would not relinquish.
In the first chasing group, which finished 21 seconds behind her, were all the favourites for the overall victory, including Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM) in the yellow jersey, who defended her lead by a few seconds, and last year's winner and top favourite Demi Vollering (SD Worx - Protime). But also sprinter Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike), who rode to second place and thus took over the green jersey from Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich PostNL). And also Liane Lippert (Movistar), who finished third, as she did on stage 5.
Kerbaol wants more
"Today I saw my chance at the top of the last climb and attacked and knew that I could make up some ground on the descent. I thought about whether they might come from behind again, but then I just rode in time trial style with the focus on the stage win," said the winner, for whom it was the sixth win of her career - and the first at the highest UCI level in the Women's World Tour. "I'm in the best form here and closer to the top riders than ever before. I already had white, I thought that was the maximum I could achieve. But maybe I can do even better now. We just have to keep believing," said Kerbaol optimistically.
The two remaining stages in the high mountains lead through the young Frenchwoman's favourite terrain. But it will be a huge challenge to keep Vollering in particular, who showed no sign of slowing down after her crash the day before.
Tour de France Femmes 2024 - Results: the top 10 of stage 6
- Cedrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling Team) 4:04:41
- Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:21
- Liane Lippert (Movistar) +0:21
- Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) +0:21
- Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek) +0:21
- Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM Racing) +0:21
- Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) +0:21
- Thalita de Jong (Lotto Dstny Ladies) +0:21
- Evita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) +0:21
- Juliette Labous (dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:21
The overall standings
- Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM Racing) 15:32:31
- Cedrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling Team) +0:16
- Kristen Faulkner (EF-Oatly-Cannondale) +0:19
- Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) +0:22
- Juliette Labous (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:56
- Thalita de Jong (Lotto-Dstny Ladies) +1:04
- Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek) +1:07
- Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) +1:08
- Liane Lippert (Movistar) +1:16
- Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx -Protime) +1:19
How the 6th stage of the Tour de France Femmes 2024 went
As on the previous day, the stage began with quite an offensive ride. On the way to the first early mountain classification after just under twelve kilometres, a prominent group had already set off. In addition to Amanda Spratt Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek), Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ), Cecilie Uttrup, Olympic champion Grace Brown (both FDJ-Suez) and European champion Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime), Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) was also part of the group.
After stage 6, Ghekiere is the new holder of the mountain jersey, replacing Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck). However, she didn't collect the points for this with her first breakaway attempt alone, which was thwarted shortly after the mountain classification. Like Brown, she tried a second time and then managed to keep the peloton at a constant distance after 60 kilometres. This second and also well-known group included sprinter Vos, her team-mate and cross world champion Fem van Empel, Franziska Koch (desm-firmenich PostNL), Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx-Protime) and Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek). The 18-rider strong group gained almost three minutes up to 30 kilometres before the finish.
Then it got hilly. The group thinned out like the peloton. In the end, only Fisher-Black, Brown and Ghekiere were able to hold their own. But when Juliette Labous (dsm-firmenich PostNL) from the remaining group of favourites attacked on the final climb, these three were also caught. When the last metres of climbing were almost done and it looked as if the group would ride over the mountain together, Kerbaol went on the offensive again. She was initially followed by Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck), but the Dutchwoman was unable to follow the good descender.
Kerbaol quickly built up a lead of up to 40 seconds, which virtually put her in the yellow jersey. And as the chasers took too long to organise the chase and, above all, lacked unity, the stage win was wrapped up relatively quickly.
