July 26/23 15:26 pm - Kopecky Safe in Yellow after Stage 4 of Tour de France Femmes

Posted by Editoress on 07/26/23
 

The day after Julie Van de Velde’s heartbreak in Montignac-Lascaux, breakaways ruled the longest stage of the Tour de France Femmes. An impressive attack took control at the front early in the stage, building a gap of more than 10 minutes and eventually battled not only for the stage win but also the Maillot Jaune. Yara Kastelijn, a teammate of Van de Velde in the ranks of Fenix-Deceuninck, tamed the final ascents of the day to power to her first professional victory on the road (she’s also a cyclo-cross European champion). An explosive finale, saw Demi Vollering (SD Worx) surge to the 2nd position, ahead of another early attacker, Anouska Koster (Uno X). It took an impressive effort from Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) to retain the overall lead, 43s ahead of Vollering, while Kastelijn moves up the rankings (7th).

After Julie Van de Velde (Fenix-Deceuninck) came agonisingly close to the upset on day 3, attackers were inspired by the length and the climbing challenges of stage 4. Henrietta Christie (Human Powered Health) lead the way early in the stage but she was caught on the first ascent, the cat-4 climb to Col de Crayssac (summit at km 16.5).

Anouska Koster (Uno-X) took the 2 QoM points at the summit and instigated a flurry of attacks, with 14 riders rapidly opening a gap: Sheyla Gutierrez (Movistar), Christine Majerus (SD Worx), Coryn Labecki (Jumbo-Visma), Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek), Kathrin Hammes (EF Education-Tibco-SVB), Thalita De Jong and Jeanne Korevaar (Liv Racing Teqfind), Yara Kastelijn et Marthe Truyen (Fenix-Deceuninck), Anouska Koster (Uno-X), Célia Le Mouel (St-Michel-Mavic-Auber93), Romy Kasper (AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step), Alice Arzuffi (Ceratizit-WNT) and Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Human Powered Health).

More riders tried to join this strong group, unsuccessfully. On the longest stage in the young history of the TDFF, the gap reached a gap never seen before in the Tour de France Femmes: up to 10:35 at km 100 (the largest gap a group of attackers had managed to open so far was 3:45 on day 5 of the 2022 edition, a 175.6km stage).

Kastelijn and Kopecky Drop the Hammer
SD Worx, Canyon//SRAM and UAE Team ADQ eventually react, bringing the gap down to 7 minutes at the bottom of the third climb of the day, the cat-3 Côte de Colombiès with 34.4km to go to Rodez. Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) attacked on the ascent causing a surge in the peloton. Lidl-Trek and then FDJ-Suez took control of the bunch, bringing the gap down to 4s by the summit. Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) attemped to get away on tricky roads, laying the groundwork for an intense finale.

On the main ascent of the day, the cat-2 Côte de Moyrazès (4.6km at 5.5%), Yara Kastelijn dropped her breakaway companions just inside the last 20 kilometres. Kopecky tackled the same ascent and powered away from the GC group. At the summit, Kastelijn’s chasers trail by 42s Kopecky by 3:03 and the bunch by 3:25.

Vollering Surges behind Kastelijn
Kastelijn tamed the final ascent of the day and flew toward the finish line, looking to be a threat on the Maillot Jaune. She was trailing by 2:41 in GC at the start, took 4 bonus seconds through the stage, with 10 more seconds up for grabs on the line. Behind her, Annemiek van Vleuten and Demi Vollering attacked and a group of leaders got back together with Kopecky.

Kastelijn maintained a steady pace on the run-in to Rodez, where the road rose again for the last 600 metres. At the summit, she took her first professional victory on the road, 1:11 ahead of Demi Vollering. Early attacker Anouska Koster rounded out the stage top 3. Kopecky finished with a gap of 1:27 and saved her Maillot Jaune.

Olivia Baril (UAE Team ADQ) was top Canadian on the stage, 33rd at 2:46 back. Baril is top Canadian overall, 26th at 3:49 back