Annemiek van Vleuten recovered from illness to blow the Tour de France Femmes apart with a 60km lone attack in the first mountain stage, taking a memorable win and the overall lead with one day’s racing to come. Such was her domination of the Vosges mountains in the first climbing test of the week-long race that only eight riders crossed the line within 10 minutes of her, on the last of three first category summits, Le Markstein, in the Vosges.
Moreover, van Vleuten won the 2019 World Road Race title in Yorkshire with a similar solo break.
“I couldn’t believe this was possible after being so sick, Being here in the yellow jersey – it’s a little bit of a miracle. I reconned the stage and saw the Petit Ballon was hard, and after six days of waiting and surviving and recovering, I wanted to make the biggest time gaps. That means going on the first climb.” said van Vleuten.
“I was super-close to quitting, Day two, I couldn’t even pack my things. I was really in a bad situation.” added the winner.
