The day after the nightmarish day of her FDJ-Suez team, marked by the abandonment of the other leader of the French formation, Marta Cavalli, the Dane, herself delayed in a fall, reacted by removing this stage for puncheuses in the Champagne vineyards.
“It has such a flavor of revenge after the day of m … the day before”, dropped the always very expressive Dane, in tears after this twelfth victory, the biggest of her career, at 26 years old.
“I wanted to help the team, keep my fighting spirit, she described. I knew that if I had the legs, I could play for victory. But from there to do it, to become a winner of stage in the Tour de France and with this jersey (of Danish champion)… My God, what more could you ask for.”
The selection took place on the Mutigny coast (900 meters at 12.2% average gradient) where Julian Alaphilippe had flown to win the stage and put on the yellow jersey in the 2019 Tour.
Present in a second group, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig took advantage of the falls of Demi Vollering and Liane Lipert in the descent and the misunderstanding of the leading group to make the connection six kilometers from the line.
The 26-year-old climber left no chance for competition in the Avenue de Champagne and its castles from the great Champagne houses.
Even Marianne Vos, leader in the general classification, had to give in to Uttrup Ludwig’s thirst for revenge. The Dutch legend, 35, nevertheless consolidated his yellow jersey by beating all his competitors on the finish line.
In these last sixteen kilometers identical to those where Alaphilippe had shone, the immense favorite Annemiek van Vleuten twice showed signs of weakness.
The leader of Movistar, winner of the Giro at the start of the month, first gave way in Mont Bernon (1 km at 4.6%) four kilometers from the line where her rivals fought over the bonuses.
Back, she gave in again in the final and dropped 20 seconds on the fastest. The Dutchwoman is already nearly a minute behind two big rivals, the Polish Katarzyna Niewiadoma and the Italian Elisa Longo Borghini.