OFFICIAL Stage 3 Results

[Laurens De Jong]

Hello, Tour de France Femmes Gamers!

 

STAGE Grade: B+

 

I rate today’s stage a B+.

 

The route was well-designed. That first climb didn’t break the peloton, but it eliminated the sprinters. I don’t think the course designer had an 88-kilometer solo win in mind, but it was the route that made it happen. I threw in a few stars to reward that solo win, plus all the stars for the surprise factor (“Sigi who?”).

 

Route: 4/5         GC: 1/5             Tactics: 4/5       Sprint: 1/5         Surprises: 5/5

 

 

Lorena Wiebes against everyone. It was clear early on that this time Wiebes lost. On the first category 1 climb she gave away two minutes. In the end she lost twenty. No doubt she didn’t try to compete for the stage win.

 

Instead we got an interesting breakaway. After the second climb, Lucinda Brand went on the attack, and a breakaway formed with eleven riders. I saw Célia Gery, as expected. I saw Lotte Kopecky. And I saw Sigrid Haugset, a rider I had never heard of.

 

That breakaway began the Col de la Sauvine with a lead of just fifteen seconds. The peloton apparently didn’t want the breakaway to win. Almost immediately, riders from the breakaway faltered and were caught by the peloton. Brand. Gery. Kopecky, one of the last riders to surrender.

 

But not Haugset. There were 88 kilometers to race and Haugset went solo. The predictable was: Haugset gets a small lead, then what’s left of the peloton gets organized and Marianne Vos wins the stage.

 

That didn’t happen. The unpredictable happened. Haugset was not going to get caught by the peloton. We know that now, we didn’t know it then. After ten kilometers of seeing the gap grow, Kopecky decided to make the jump to Haugset. The gap was a minute and a half.

 

For 75 kilometers, Kopecky would chase Haugset. Haugset is a time trial specialists, five times on the podium in the Norwegian national championship. And she’s the current road race national champion. Kopecky is two times the road race world champion and winner of a handful of Monuments of cycling.

 

Seventy-five kilometers, Kopecky chasing. For much of that time, the TV didn’t even show us the gap. Everyone still believed in the predictable. But the peloton was three, four minutes behind. They were mildly concerned with each other — there were a few accelerations by Kim Le Court-Pienaar and Demi Vollering. But mostly, they didn’t care at all. The race was ahead, between Kopecky and Haugset.

 

A minute, sometimes more, sometimes less. For 60 kilometers, Kopecky was chasing, trailing by a minute. Then the gap came down very quickly. Thirty, twenty, fifteen. We saw Haugset: pedaling squares. Cramps, I thought. We had seen Kopecky drinking from time to time, but not Haugset. Would the less experienced Haugset lose the race because she forgot to drink?

 

I thought: why doesn’t she just wait for Kopecky. Recharge. Let the peloton come a little closer. Drop her with four kilometers to go. Haugset told us afterwards that she had considered that. But she didn’t do it. Instead, she kept pedaling.

 

With ten kilometers to go: ten seconds. Then ten seconds. Then ten seconds. Kopecky could almost reach out and grab her. An uncategorized climb appeared, 7% for a while. Haugset struggling, she barely seemed to be moving. But: if one rider is struggling, the chaser is also struggling.

 

Kopecky was struggling. Eight kilometers to go, the gap became fifteen seconds. Still, Kopecky could see Haugset. The predictable could still happen. But fifteen became 30, and more. It turns out Kopecky was the one with leg cramps.

 

The unpredictable happened. Sigfrid Ytterhus Haugset won her second mass start pro cycling race of her career. We’ve all heard of her now. Eighty-eight kilometers solo, I don’t recall the last time we’ve seen that in a women’s race. Liz Deignan in 2021 was “forever the first ever” winner of Paris-Roubaix after 81 kilometers solo. Annemiek van Vleuten won stage 7 of the 2022 Tour after 62 kilometers solo. Eighty-eight kilometers was not predicted and something we must savor.

 

There was a smaller peloton chasing Haugset and Kopecky, including most but not all the general classification contenders. Among them Émilie Morier and Solène Muller, from our focus team St Michel – Preference Home – Auber93.

 

Muller eventually dropped out of that peloton and finished 53^rd, more than six minutes behind. But Morier finished with the GC contenders, 22^nd. So that’s our team’s strategy: Morier in the top-20 of the general classification.

 

Morier is the current French individual time trial champion and guess what: stage 4 is the individual time trial. A critical day for our team.

 

Watch the final kilometer HERE

Watch the post-race interview with Haugset HERE (don’t cry)

Watch NBC Sports’ Extended highlights HERE

Read the TNT Sports report HERE

 

Spoiler alert: there were no changes in the standings today.

 

Team Ansel took all the prizes today. Most points from the stage, most points from classifications, most points overall, most riders in the Top-25 (eleven). This may be a Pogačar kind of game if they keep it up like this.

 

Team Hugo and Team Tadej made it more exciting by finishing second and third, respectively, within a single point.

 

The rest of the teams missed the boat today. Team Amalia in fourth, Team Wesley in fifth, and Team Katja shared sixth with Team Cameron.

 

Stage 4 on Tuesday is the inevitable time trial. If you brought Zoe Bäckstedt on your team then this is the day you were waiting for. She’ll be on the podium, for sure. Demi Vollering will try to make a move in the general classification. But ahead of both of them we expect Marlen Reusser. No doubt about it, Reusser will win stage 4.

 

Standings after stage 3:

 

Rank	Name	Points	WAS	MOVES
1	Team Ansel*	713	1	0
2	Team Tadej*	659	2	0
3	Team Hugo*	600	3	0
4	Team Amalia*	460	4	0
5	Team Katja*	366	5	0
6	Team Cameron*	307	6	0
7	Team Wesley*	202	7	0

 

Standings after stage 3 (including adults):

 

Rank	Name	Points	WAS	MOVES
1	Team Jake	749	1	0
2	Team Catherine	725	7	5
3	Team Ansel*	713	3	0
4	Team Kent	710	4	0
5	Team Laurens	706	6	1
	Team Melanie	706	4	-1
7	Team Cameron	699	8	1
8	Team Valerie	671	2	-6
9	Team Amelia	661	14	5
10	Team Tadej*	659	9	-1
11	Team Allison	658	15	4
12	Team Craig	650	11	-1
13	Team Sam	646	13	0
14	Team Kari	633	12	-2
15	Team Charlotte	621	9	-6
16	Team Erin	602	22	6
17	Team Hugo*	600	17	0
18	Team Lichterman	598	16	-2
19	Team Doug	580	21	2
20	Team Andrew	577	18	-2
21	Team Adam	558	20	-1
22	Team Ellie	557	19	-3
23	Team Wesley	538	23	0
24	Team Kate	533	26	2
25	Team Julie	524	24	-1
26	Team Grace	505	25	-1
27	Team Suzanne	474	29	2
28	Team Amalia*	460	27	-1
29	Team Corsa	411	28	-1
30	Team Karin	397	32	2
31	Team Katja*	366	30	-1
32	Team Allie	345	31	-1
33	Team Cameron*	307	33	0
34	Team Ellen	230	34	0
35	Team Wesley*	202	35	0

 

Complete breakdown of points from stage 3:

 

Name	STAGE RESULTS	YELLOW JERSEY	GREEN JERSEY	POLKA DOT JERSEY	WHITE JERSEY	POINTS/CLASS	TOTAL	PREVIOUS	CUM. TOTAL
Team Amalia*	76	9	7	0	5	21	97	363	460
Team Ansel*	145	23	8	5	12	48	193	520	713
Team Cameron*	65	9	5	0	0	14	79	228	307
Team Hugo*	124	23	8	5	8	44	168	432	600
Team Katja*	54	9	7	5	4	25	79	287	366
Team Tadej*	122	23	8	5	9	45	167	492	659
Team Wesley*	62	10	4	3	5	24	86	116	202

 

Complete breakdown of points from stage 3 (including adults):

 

Name	STAGE RESULTS	YELLOW JERSEY	GREEN JERSEY	POLKA DOT JERSEY	WHITE JERSEY	POINTS/CLASS	TOTAL	PREVIOUS	CUM. TOTAL
Team Adam	111	23	8	0	5	36	147	411	558
Team Allie	57	8	5	0	0	13	70	275	345
Team Allison	156	27	8	5	5	45	201	457	658
Team Amalia*	76	9	7	0	5	21	97	363	460
Team Amelia	150	27	8	5	10	50	200	461	661
Team Andrew	109	23	8	0	9	40	149	428	577
Team Ansel*	145	23	8	5	12	48	193	520	713
Team Cameron	156	27	8	5	5	45	201	498	699
Team Cameron*	65	9	5	0	0	14	79	228	307
Team Catherine	167	31	11	5	8	55	222	503	725
Team Charlotte	97	11	9	5	7	32	129	492	621
Team Corsa	51	9	7	0	0	16	67	344	411
Team Craig	139	20	7	5	8	40	179	471	650
Team Doug	137	23	8	0	5	36	173	407	580
Team Ellen	47	0	0	5	4	9	56	174	230
Team Ellie	106	17	7	5	8	37	143	414	557
Team Erin	158	32	6	0	9	47	205	397	602
Team Grace	100	17	7	5	5	34	134	371	505
Team Hugo*	124	23	8	5	8	44	168	432	600
Team Jake	166	32	11	5	10	58	224	525	749
Team Julie	114	21	7	5	4	37	151	373	524
Team Kari	123	23	8	5	5	41	164	469	633
Team Karin	127	21	4	3	3	33	160	237	397
Team Kate	128	26	3	5	3	37	165	368	533
Team Katja*	54	9	7	5	4	25	79	287	366
Team Kent	152	26	8	0	8	42	194	516	710
Team Laurens	146	26	8	5	8	47	193	513	706
Team Lichterman	117	23	8	5	0	36	153	445	598
Team Melanie	138	28	11	5	8	52	190	516	706
Team Sam	134	26	8	5	5	44	178	468	646
Team Suzanne	100	17	7	5	8	37	137	337	474
Team Tadej*	122	23	8	5	9	45	167	492	659
Team Valerie	115	17	6	5	5	33	148	523	671
Team Wesley	111	23	8	5	0	36	147	391	538
Team Wesley*	62	10	4	3	5	24	86	116	202

 

Vive le Tour Femmes!

 

-Laurens.