A great dessert and champagne —”however not an excessive amount of!”— is what awaits the French rider Cédrine Kerbaol on the Ceratizit-WNT staff lodge this night.
The 23-year-old delivered France its first-ever stage win within the Tour de France Femmes on Friday, August 16, after a well-timed assault and a daring descent into Morteau on stage 6.
With half the Tour already completed, Stage 6 was the primary race fully held on French soil. It was additionally the final stage earlier than the Tour’s large mountain phases. A breakaway was seemingly, and lots of regarded to the French riders for the win, bolstered by the hoards of followers that got here out to cheer on their native heroes.
“I hope the French are as joyful as I’m. I hope it would give them one thing to smile about, too,” Kerbaol mentioned post-race.
Juliette Labous (dsm-firmenich) and Évita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) have been favourites to take the stage win but it surely was final yr’s white jersey winner who made her mark. The rider from Brittany timed her assault completely, attacking excessive of the ultimate climb and setting a blistering tempo down the lengthy and quick descent.
“I took full benefit of the descent,” she commented with a smile. And that she did. A lot in order that at one level, Kerbaol managed to increase her result in 40 seconds, thereby placing even the Kasia Niewiadmoa’s yellow jersey at risk.
The chasing group of favourites did handle to lower the hole, however Kerbaol nonetheless got here into the ending straight solo to a deafening banging on the boards by the French followers. She additionally had loads of time to take a seat up and have a good time the most important win of her profession in type, making a coronary heart image together with her arms as she crossed the end line.
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“It is an unimaginable day for me, and I believe for lots of different folks — individuals who have supported me in recent times, my staff, and my teammates. I believe lots of people are joyful this afternoon,” Kerbaol mentioned.
Certainly they have been. When 12 minutes later, her Ceratizit-WNT teammates crossed the road, they celebrated like champions, cheering and punching the air.
“It is tremendous large as a result of it is a f*cking stage within the Tour de France,” NIna Berton exclaimed. “It is one of many largest issues you may win. And to win it with Cédrine is tremendous particular as a result of she’s French, and she or he actually labored tremendous arduous for this.”
Berton shared that the staff had identified Kerbaol had been feeling good all week and entrusted her to “simply go by her guts and assault ultimately.”
“She’s an excellent robust downhill rider, so we knew if she feels good, she will be able to strive, and it labored out. It is one of the best factor that we may have imagined, I believe.”
Relatively than heading to the bus to begin the cooldown and restoration course of, the entire Ceratizit-WNT staff rolled to the rostrum to witness and cheer for Kerbaol as she acquired her medal and a while within the highlight. A celebration would observe on the staff lodge, Berton promised.
“I believe we get a very good dessert. And perhaps some champagne, however not an excessive amount of. Will probably be a giant celebration, I believe,” she mentioned, smiling.
Half a glass of champagne and a few dessert is what counts as a “large celebration” on the Tour de France as a result of the racing is way from completed. Up forward are two monster mountain phases requiring each final little bit of the riders’ energy and focus. Particularly now that Kerbaol has ridden himself into second place within the Normal Classification, simply 16 seconds down from yellow-jersey wearer Niewiadoma.
However when requested if Kerbaol aspires to go after the yellow, she was coy, stating: ” The tour is already a hit for me, however in fact, I need to battle to the tip to get the absolute best consequence.”
“I arrived on the Tour this yr saying that I did not need to set any result-oriented targets for myself. That is still the case. For me, it represents a type of oppression that I do not essentially like. I favor to take the moments as they arrive.”
