Cycling: The women are setting new standards at the Tour de France

Women’s cycling sets new standards. After a thrilling finale over the 21 bends of l’Alpe-d’Huez, only four seconds separated Tour de France Femmes winner Kasia Niewiadoma from second-place finisher Demi Vollering. Third place overall Pauliena Rooijakkers was only six seconds behind.

A podium that is only ten seconds apart after almost 1,000 kilometers driven – that cannot be found in the data sets from the more than 100-year history of male-dominated cycling, even with ChatGPT’s artificial intelligence. The favorite is the men’s Tour of France from 1989, when Greg Lemond was five seconds ahead of Laurent Fignon and another 20 ahead of Thierry Marie after six stages. After 21 stages, Lemond and Fignon were eight seconds apart at the end; The Spaniard Pedro Delgado was in third place, 3:34 minutes behind the winner from the USA and the Frenchman.

However, Niewiadoma, Vollering and Rooijakkers not only created a new statistical spectacle. The trio also changed the virtual overall lead several times on the final stage on Sunday. An early attack from defending champion Vollering 55 kilometers from the finish opened the fast-paced finale. The Dutchwoman quickly gained a lead that put her just ahead of Poland’s Niewiadoma in the overall standings. However, compatriot Rooijakkers was still stuck to her rear wheel. She was two seconds better placed than Vollering before the start and brilliantly overshadowed the big favorite. If she fell behind on a climb, she clawed her way back.

When the Oranje duo reached the famous Dutchman’s Curve in l’Alpe-d’Huez, which was of course only very sparsely occupied, it seemed as if the bonus seconds from the day’s victory between the two of them would also decide the overall victory. But Niewiadoma mobilized all his strength behind it and shortened the long-distance duel to the four seconds that remained as the difference even after all bonuses were taken into account.

The fact that a fourth rider was the virtual overall leader during the stage also contributed to the racing heartbeat on the final day. Mountain queen Justine Ghekire from Belgium was at times more than two minutes ahead of the field as part of a breakaway group. In the end, sweat and tears mixed together. Demi Vollering cried with disappointment. She struggled with the fall on the fifth stage, which had put her behind, and with the finish photo decision on the fourth stage, after which she was missing bonus seconds as second place. And she was annoyed by her own hesitation the day before in Le Grand-Bornand when she didn’t line up earlier in the final.

»There are so many “ifs”: If I had gotten up a little bit quicker after the fall, that might have been enough. If I had beaten Puck Pieterse in the sprint in Liège, the four seconds would have been gone too. If I had attacked a little earlier in Le Grand-Bornand, maybe I would,” explained Vollering herself – and tears kept streaming into her eyes.

Her big rival Niewiadoma, on the other hand, bathed in a sea of ​​tears of joy. »It’s just crazy. The whole stage was a roller coaster ride,” the 29-year-old looked back. She admitted that she completely lost her self-confidence during the Vollering attack. But she regained her strength on the descent from the Col du Glandon. »I love downhill runs and I was able to regain my energy there. Sometimes all you need is a moment of relaxation. “I ate everything I had in my pockets, drank plenty of fluids, and then I felt good again and was ready to move on,” she explained.

The Pole, who competes for the German team Canyon SRAM, was up to the difficulty of the task on what she herself proclaimed to be the “most important day of my career”. Always at the forefront for many years, but without a major victory for a long time, she also seems to be at a new level mentally after winning the Gravel World Championships last year. The Tour victory is her greatest success. It’s also good for diversity in their sport. For the first time, no woman from the Netherlands won this race. And because her racing team led by Ronny Lauke, who was born in Eisenhüttenstadt, is based in Leipzig, East Germany can – once again – feel like a tour winning region. Hopefully this time without doping.