Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a motorbike) went deep on the Tour de France avec Zwift. Actual deep. Levels 6 and 7 noticed her give a masterclass in struggling and grit as she pursued the inexperienced factors jersey. The digital camera confirmed a uncommon sight of the 37-year-old on the fringe of her restrict—tooth clenched, shoulders sagging, keen her bike ahead with sheer willpower.
“[The green jersey] just isn’t the primary ambition,” Vos had informed Biking Weekly in the beginning of the week, looking for stage wins as a substitute. However when the inexperienced jersey got here inside attain, the Dutch veteran went all in, leaving every part on the highway.
Stage 6 was a difficult and hilly stage with loads of fireworks. A promising breakaway of 13 riders fashioned early, with Vos content material to let her teammate Fem van Empel lead the cost. Ultimately, although, Vos determined to double the workforce’s probabilities and bridged throughout with 87 kilometres remaining within the race.
From the entrance group, Vos claimed the intermediate dash, drawing degree with Charlotte Kool within the factors classification. But the stage was removed from over. The hills stored coming as did the assault. The QOM factors was hotly contested and Vos acquired distances on the final climb of the day, the Côte des Fins. Dangling as much as 2 minutes behind the leaders, Vos refused to surrender.
“It was preventing and struggling right now,” a depleted Vos stated on the stage end. “During the last climb, I used to be glad I may nonetheless see the tail of the peloton and will return to it.”
Whereas Vos clawed herself again on simply in time for finale in Morteau, Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT) had lengthy gotten away by then. Vos missed her likelihood for a stage win, however her second-place end was adequate to grab the inexperienced jersey.
“I actually wish to convey the inexperienced jersey to the end of the Tour de France Femmes, however first, I must get better from this gruelling effort,” she remarked.
Stage 7 introduced the primary of the mountain phases and Vos began the penultimate stage head-to-toe in inexperienced, able to defend her jersey now that stage wins had been wanting unlikely. On the docket for the day had been 166.4 hilly kilometers and a mountaintop end atop Le Grand-Bornand, and it took a while for the day’s definitive breakaway to type. When it did, the inexperienced jersey was amongst them.
“I needed to be sharp and alert right now. I did not anticipate to finish up within the breakaway, however I noticed the assault going, and I attempted to hitch and instantly,” Vos recounted post-race. “We had fairly the hole, and the cooperation was fairly good, in order that was very nice. For the factors jersey, that was an excellent scenario.”
The six riders stretched their result in 5 minutes, briefly putting Vos within the digital yellow jersey. This sparked the GC groups into motion, with Canyon-SRAM and FDJ-Suez main the chase to shut down the hole.
Vos admitted that she briefly entertained ideas of a stage victory, however she was life like concerning the GC lead.
“I knew what was coming behind me and I additionally knew what was coming forward so I had no actual goals concerning the yellow,” she stated.
On the ultimate climb up the Grand-Bornand, Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance coverage—Soudal Crew) surged forward, proving why she wears the Queen of the Mountains jersey. Vos, together with Sara Martin (Movistar), was caught just some kilometres earlier than the summit, finally ending the stage in nineteenth place.
“At this time, I suffered lots once more, particularly in direction of the tip of the stage,” Vos stated. However the effort has paid off. Assuming she finishes the ultimate stage atop the Alpe d’Huez tomorrow, she’s going to go house together with her second Tour de France inexperienced jersey in three years.
“I am very glad to convey the jersey to the ultimate stage tomorrow,” she stated. “I nonetheless have to complete on Alpe d’Huez. That’s not going to be straightforward. It will likely be a tricky day, however one I can method with confidence.”
