Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a motorcycle) went deep on the Tour de France avec Zwift. Actual deep. Levels 6 and 7 noticed her give a masterclass in struggling and grit as she pursued the inexperienced factors jersey. The digital camera confirmed a uncommon sight of the 37-year-old on the fringe of her restrict—enamel clenched, shoulders sagging, prepared her bike ahead with sheer willpower.
“[The green jersey] is just not the primary ambition,” Vos had instructed Biking Weekly initially of the week, looking for stage wins as an alternative. However when the inexperienced jersey got here inside attain, the Dutch veteran went all in, leaving all the pieces on the highway.
Stage 6 was a difficult and hilly stage with loads of fireworks. A promising breakaway of 13 riders shaped early, with Vos content material to let her teammate Fem van Empel lead the cost. Ultimately, although, Vos determined to double the staff’s possibilities and bridged throughout with 87 kilometres remaining within the race.
From the entrance group, Vos claimed the intermediate dash, drawing stage with Charlotte Kool within the factors classification. But the stage was removed from over. The hills stored coming as did the assault. The QOM factors was hotly contested and Vos acquired distances on the final climb of the day, the Côte des Fins. Dangling as much as 2 minutes behind the leaders, Vos refused to surrender.
“It was combating and struggling immediately,” a depleted Vos mentioned on the stage end. “Over the past climb, I used to be joyful I may nonetheless see the tail of the peloton and will return to it.”
Whereas Vos clawed herself again on simply in time for finale in Morteau, Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT) had lengthy gotten away by then. Vos missed her probability for a stage win, however her second-place end was ok to grab the inexperienced jersey.
“I actually wish to convey the inexperienced jersey to the end of the Tour de France Femmes, however first, I have to get better from this gruelling effort,” she remarked.
Stage 7 introduced the primary of the mountain phases and Vos began the penultimate stage head-to-toe in inexperienced, able to defend her jersey now that stage wins have been wanting unlikely. On the docket for the day have been 166.4 hilly kilometers and a mountaintop end atop Le Grand-Bornand, and it took a while for the day’s definitive breakaway to type. When it did, the inexperienced jersey was amongst them.
“I wished to be sharp and alert immediately. I did not count on to finish up within the breakaway, however I noticed the assault going, and I attempted to affix and instantly,” Vos recounted post-race. “We had fairly the hole, and the cooperation was fairly good, in order that was very nice. For the factors jersey, that was an excellent scenario.”
The six riders stretched their result in 5 minutes, briefly inserting Vos within the digital yellow jersey. This sparked the GC groups into motion, with Canyon-SRAM and FDJ-Suez main the chase to shut down the hole.
Vos admitted that she briefly entertained ideas of a stage victory, however she was practical in regards to the GC lead.
“I knew what was coming behind me and I additionally knew what was coming forward so I had no actual goals in regards to the yellow,” she mentioned.
On the ultimate climb up the Grand-Bornand, Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance coverage—Soudal Workforce) surged forward, proving why she wears the Queen of the Mountains jersey. Vos, together with Sara Martin (Movistar), was caught just some kilometres earlier than the summit, in the end ending the stage in nineteenth place.
“At present, I suffered lots once more, particularly in the direction of the tip of the stage,” Vos mentioned. However the effort has paid off. Assuming she finishes the ultimate stage atop the Alpe d’Huez tomorrow, she is going to go residence together with her second Tour de France inexperienced jersey in three years.
“I am very joyful to convey the jersey to the ultimate stage tomorrow,” she mentioned. “I nonetheless have to complete on Alpe d’Huez. That’s not going to be simple. Will probably be a tricky day, however one I can method with confidence.”
