Juliette Labous takes 4th on Giro Donne queen stage

Taking on the Cima Coppi (the highest climb of the race), Tuesday’s racing saw the race explode to pieces early on with Juliette Labous fighting to a strong fourth place at the finish in Ceres.

Leaving the town of Salassa this morning the peloton were almost immediately met by the Passo del Lupo (ten kilometres at over eight percent in gradient), which saw things split to pieces. After some good positioning by the team, Labous fought tough on the long climb and made sure to not go into the red. Over the top, she formed part of a five rider chasing group which eventually made contact with the four out front at 35 kilometres remaining.

Yet the cooperation in the group wasn’t great and the next group was able to return, which included Esmée Peperkamp, just after Niedermaier made what would be the stage winning move. No one initially wanted to set tempo but Peperkamp came to the front and set the pace as they hit the last categorised climb, before the peloton once again exploded. Labous once again fought hard to hang-in on the ascent and crested the climb as part of a group of four – which would go on to fight for the final podium spot. On the uphill kick to the line, Labous gave her best in the sprint, taking a fine fourth place and moving up to the same place on GC.

“It was full-gas from the start,” expressed Labous after the finish. “Megan and Franzi did a super job to position me exactly where I wanted to be for the climb. Francesca took over for the first part and then Annemiek went full. I then set my own pace and did a measured effort on the climb and wasn’t too far back from the front. I was in a good group and after the descent we pushed hard and managed to come back to the leaders. Unfortunately, we looked a bit to each other. I tried to attack but they all followed me. Then the next group from came back from behind with other GC contenders which was a bit disappointing, but that’s racing sometimes and I couldn’t have really have done anything different. In the final Esmée paced really hard onto the last climb and I could drop some other GC riders, which mentally was really good for me. I gave everything and in the end I am happy about the fourth place on the stage and sitting fourth on GC for now. The podium is still in reach so it was a pretty good day. It was a hard stage but I think everyone did a good job.”

Team dsm-firmenich coach Kelvin Dekker added: “We knew it was going to be a big day, with the Cima Coppi towards the beginning. In the first ten kilometres we really used Megan and Franziska’s strength to bring the rest of the team into the climb in a good way. We went full there with Juliette and she was in a group over the top. We knew that there was a good chance they would come back and that an attack could go away. It went really slow when they made it back, so Juliette attacked a few times but it didn’t work. Then the next chasing group which included Esmée came back too. It was good to have Esmée back as she then started pulling on the last climb to make it as hard as possible as we know Juliette is strong after a hard day like today, but it’s also a shame as it meant some more competitors came back. It was a really good effort from Juliette in the last ten kilometres to take fourth on the stage and move up to fourth on GC. We’re in a nice position and still have our eyes on that podium finish.”