The women's Tour de France is still firmly in Dutch hands. Puck Pieterse wins the 4th stage ahead of Demi Vollering, who retains the yellow jersey. Noemi Rüegg is convincing in fifth place.
14.08.2024, 17:16
14.08.2024, 18:06
SDA
The third day of this third edition of the Tour de France Femmes with the stage from Valkenburg to Liège produced a surprising winner in Puck Pieterse. Not because she comes from the Netherlands like the first three stage winners, but because she usually shows her strengths in mountain biking. In Paris, the 22-year-old finished fourth in the Olympic cross-country race.
On Wednesday, Pieterse left none other than last year's winner Demi Vollering behind her in the photo finish. The two Dutchwomen, together with Poland's Katarzyna Niewiadoma, had broken away from the field in the two spring classics Amstel Gold Race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. It was Pieterse's first ever victory in the professional road race.
Chabbey retires
Switzerland's Noemi Rüegg finished a good 5th place, 29 seconds behind in the sprint for 4th place. Her compatriot Elise Chabbey did not start. The Geneva native, who crashed in stage 1 on Monday, gritted her teeth on Tuesday before throwing in the towel on Wednesday. "I crashed hard on my head on stage 1 and still have some symptoms," Chabbey explained her abandonment on Instagram.
Vollering leads the overall standings 22 seconds ahead of Pieterse and 34 seconds ahead of Niewiadoma. Olympic seventh-placed Rüegg follows in 14th place, 1:23 minutes behind.
Now in France
On Thursday, the peloton will reach French soil for the first time after the Tour opener in the Netherlands and the transition stage to Belgium. Stage 5 takes the riders over 152.5 km from Bastogne to Amnéville.
