Juliette Labous fights to 5th on Col du Tourmalet

The queen stage of the Tour de France Femmes saw a short but explosive stage to the Col du Tourmalet shake up the GC with Juliette Labous climbing to fifth place on the day and moving up to sixth on GC.

Setting out from Lannemezan late Saturday afternoon, Team dsm-firmenich set out with the goal of bringing Labous into the best place possible for the two major climbs of Col d’Aspin and Col du Tourmalet. Covering any dangerous breakaways, the sprint group of Charlotte Kool, Megan Jastrab and then Pfeiffer Georgi took control at the front of the peloton and kept Labous safe as they swung onto the Col d’Aspin. Léa Curinier and Esmée Peperkap then took over in support and stuck with Labous for as long as they could, while other teams upped the pace. With five kilometres left to go on the climb and elite three rider group went clear, with Labous riding at her own tempo in the chasing yellow jersey group.

A change in race dynamics over the top and on the descent saw Niewiadoma solo out front, while Van Vleuten and Vollering returned to Labous’ group – where a strong pace was set. As they hit the beginning of the steep section of the Col du Tourmalet with 12 kilometres remaining on the stage, Niewiadoma was in touching distance but the gap immediately ballooned out. Labous then helped to set tempo but after getting little help from others, she attacked multiple times trying to break clear. Unfortunately, she was always shut down before Vollering would put in a stinging move at five kilometres to go. Labous had to let go of the wheels and ride at her own tempo, slowly reeling her way back to the riders just ahead of her at the top of the climb; claiming a great fifth place on the stage.

 

Speaking after the stage Labous expressed: “In the first part of the stage there were some attacks but the girls did a really good job of controlling as we didn’t want a break of support riders going, so it was good for us. They then did a perfect job positioning going onto the Col d’Aspin. Then we could just follow the train of Movistar which was pacing for Van Vleuten. She then attacked and I couldn’t follow at that moment so I stayed with the group where I did a lot of the work. Then in the valley Reusser paced and brought us back close to the front as Niewiadoma was ahead still, so that was actually a good situation for us. The pace then went out and I tried to attack to get rid of Kopecky and Moolman because at that point the podium was possible but they didn’t really drop. Then at five kilometres to go Vollering attacked and from there on I took my own pace and went as hard as I could to the top. Fifth place was the best I could do today, I really have no regrets. Tomorrow it is maybe still possible to get into the top five so I will fight and give everything in the TT. Today the team did a really good job so I’m really happy and looking forward to tomorrow.”

Team dsm-firmenich coach Kelvin Dekker added: “The first thing was to make sure that everything stayed together before the first climb. We did that in a good way; we really did a good job. I think we were the first team going onto the Aspin. On the climb we tried to do everything we could. Léa and Esmée did a really good job and they were still there with the 25 best riders and it was good to know that Juliette would be well supported if something happened. Going over the top Juliette was comfortable and in a good group, and it was also nice that Esmée’s group wasn’t too far behind still in case anything happened at that moment, or if the group went slow and so on. Then on the last climb we knew that if we wanted to push for the podium then we needed to go full. Juliette tried a few attacks but unfortunately they didn’t work, but they did put a few of the others in the group on the limit. Then when Vollering went everyone just found their own pace. Juliette gave everything and finished fifth on the stage and now sits sixth on GC. I think it’s an effort to be really proud of, she finished just behind Moolman and Van Vleuten, and we tried everything we could so we have to be satisfied with this. If you see the level of climbing at this race then I think we can be happy if she ends the race in this position.”