Dutchwoman Demi Vollering won the Tour de France Women for the first time at the end of the 8th and final stage, a 22 kilometer time trial which went to Swiss Marlen Reusser on Sunday in Pau. She succeeds her compatriot Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar), who has reigned over women’s cycling for several seasons and announced her retirement at the end of the season. The Frenchwoman Juliette Labous, 6th in the time trial on Sunday, finished in 5th position in the general classification.
In the final general classification, the leader of the SD Worx formation is ahead of the Belgian Lotte Kopecky and the Polish Katarzyna Niewiadoma who finish in the same second. The young Frenchwoman Cédrine Kerbaol (12th) wins the white jersey in the best young rider classification.
This success in the Tour is already the fifteenth victory this year for the world number 1 who had dominated the spring of the classics, signing the Ardennes hat-trick Flèche wallonne / Liège / Amstel that only her compatriot Anna van der Breggen had achieved before her.
Vollering takes up the torch left by Annemiek van Vleuten, winner of the renaissance edition last year. The world champion, 40, who will retire at the end of the season, fails at the foot of the podium, 4th, after winning the Giro and the Vuelta this year.
In the streets of Pau and under the eyes of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, on roads that had dried out after heavy morning showers, Reusser set the fastest time, completing the 22 kilometers in 29 minutes 15 seconds, over 46 km /h average.
The Swiss, double European champion in the individual exercise, signed her 7th success of the season in Pau, after victories in Ghent-Wevelgem and the final classification of the Tour of Switzerland and the Tour of the Basque Country.
Demi Vollering took 2nd place in this final time trial which changed the order of the podium established on Saturday at the top of the Col du Tourmalet. Going from 4th to 2nd place, Lotte Kopecky, yellow jersey for six days after taking the tunic during the first stage, finally deprived Van Vleuten (only 14th in Pau) of 3rd place. Third in the Tour, Katarzyna Niewiadoma equals her performance in 2022 and also wins the mountain classification.
