Ever since girls’s racing reclaimed the Tour de France identify in 2014, first by way of La Course by Le TDF and now the Tour de France Femmes, it has been the Dutch who’ve carried out greatest. Be it Vos, Van der Breggen, Van Vleuten or now Vollering, by no means has the house nation lived as much as the power of the Netherlands.
But fittingly right now, following a Dutch Grand Départ, Cédrine Kerbaol turned the tide with the primary French stage win on the revived Tour de France Femmes, emulating the nice however controversial Jeannie Longo. The 65-year-old was the final house winner on the girls’s race in 1989 earlier than former director Jean-Marie Leblanc determined to scrap the occasion.
For 24-time stage winner Longo, the final win location was Aix les Bains, for Kerbaol it was the small commune Morteau that hosted her first, with the particular feeling of a French win on the girls’s Tour lastly returning after two years and 6 levels of the brand new race and 35 years because the outdated one.
“It’s a bit loopy. I imply, the primary French winner on the Tour de France Femmes, it is one thing tremendous cool,” stated Kerbaol in her post-race press convention. “I’m pondering lots in regards to the subsequent technology coming and I hope it offers them quite a lot of motivation to see that.
“I’ve by no means received a race like this, it is legendary. I’ve by no means been so near one of the best riders both, so that is fairly good.”
Kerbaol took house one of the best younger rider’s white jersey ultimately 12 months’s race, which was the one tangible success French riders had from the primary two editions, nonetheless, a stage win is on one other stage.
On Friday’s stage 6 of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes made her successful solo transfer 14.6km from the road after the ultimate climb up Côte des Fins, with the GC favourites Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) and Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) marking one another out.
Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) joined her however could not maintain the tempo as Kerbaol railed the descent at breakneck velocity. She was quickly alone and confirmed each bit the facility of a former French nationwide time trial champion to carry a 21-second lead on the bunch behind.
While the large crowds have been out primarily to assist native heroes Juliette Labous (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) and Evita Muzic (FDJ-Suez), it was Brittany’s Kerbaol obtained each little bit of adoration from the spectators current as she powered to the road to make historical past.
“It was the plan to assault in some unspecified time in the future, however not notably there. The purpose was to really feel the race and to do one thing. There have been just a few assaults of Juliette [Labous], for instance, and I assumed ‘OK, I should be affected person’, to attend my time,” Kerbaol defined.
“I knew there was this downhill after which I attacked, we have been two and I requested [Rooijakkers] to take a flip and I feel she was simply full fuel and I assumed OK, now I’ll simply do the downhill like I understand how to do it.
“I did not take into consideration the truth that [Rooijakkers] was with me after which a couple of minutes later, she was not there anymore. I took quite a lot of please within the downhill, I actually preferred that after which once I arrived on the flat half, it turned a bit more durable.”
With the win incoming, Kerbaol did not enable herself to consider what she was about to realize, centered solely on turning the pedals and churning out the watts. It was daring, calculated and executed to perfection.
“I did not give it some thought [the chase behind], I used to be simply focussing on pulling as many watts as I may,” laughed the 23-year-old.
“Until 100m from the end line, I used to be not interested by the win – in fact, I used to be interested by it – however I used to be not telling myself “I’m going to win”, so I did not give it some thought.”
It could also be a while earlier than it correctly units in how vital this French win is for the race and Kerbaol however she’s now acquired the final classification to concentrate on, having nearly taken the yellow jersey and moved into second total simply 16 seconds off Niewiadoma’s lead.
“I do not wish to put myself underneath strain of a end result. I’m simply dwelling each second as I can,” stated Kerbaol. “Of course, I need the workforce and I to be intelligent in our technique. But I do not wish to inform myself OK now I wish to go for the yellow jersey, or I wish to preserve this place, I simply wish to give as a lot as I can, be intelligent within the race, after which we are going to see.”
