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Stage 7 proved to be the decisive stage of the 2023 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, with Demi Vollering (SD Worx) blitzing the field on the final climb. However, a key moment in the race played out between the two major climbs of the day, the Col d’Aspin and the Col du Tourmalet, where rivals Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) and Vollering were in a standoff.
Van Vleuten launched an attack with five kilometres left to the summit of the Col d’Aspin, dragging clear Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) from the much-reduced peloton.
The trio forged a lead clear at the front of the race. Only van Vleuten and Niewiadoma contributed to the pace, with Vollering sitting on, and they had a 50-second lead over a group containing the other favourites, including yellow jersey-holder Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx), Vollering’s teammate.
On the descent, Niewiadoma went to the front, and quickly put a gap into the other two riders. Then, there was a moment of drama as van Vleuten refused to chase the Polish star alone, signally for Vollering to come through and even braking to force her rival to the front.
“This is not a bit of cat and mouse with a sprint and 500 metres to go, this is cat and mouse with the Col du Tourmalet to come!” said SBS commentator Matthew Keenan.
Fellow member of the SBS commentary team, Gracie Elvin, who raced for years as a teammate with van Vleuten gave her insight into the tactics of the Dutch star.
“This is so entertaining, also smart from van Vleuten to call the bluff of Vollering,” said Elvin. “Vollering now on the radio to the team car to find out what she really should be doing.
“In the past she (van Vleuten) would have taken the reins and ridden hard. It’s good to see her say to Vollering, ‘you’re just as strong as me, people have been talking about this match-up for months, you need to be part of this chase as well’.
“No matter what the outcome is, this is the story of the day.”
The pair didn’t get working again, and they were absorbed by the chasing group of the yellow jersey and other contenders, with Niewiadoma hitting the base of the Col de Tourmalet with a minute’s lead.
“She may have a lead,” said Elvin, “but she’s also doing a harder effort, which may come back to bite on the steeper sections of the Tourmalet, but she’s gaining time on those two riders.”
Keenan approvingly pointed out the risk-it-all for the win strategy that the Polish rider was employing with the long-range attack, attempting to avoid another close finish without the victory.
“If she rides conservatively, she’s on the podium again, she’s done that,” said Keenan. “Take the risk, I love this approach from Kasia Niewiadoma.”
Niewiadoma’s lead yo-yo’d on the climb, nearly being caught after the initial pace-making on the lower slopes by the elite group of chasers led by Marlen Reusser. While she was eventually overtaken by Vollering, she kept her lead on van Vleuten all the way to the line and now sits in second by 38 second over van Vleuten.
Niewiadoma was rewarded for her efforts with the most aggressive rider on the stage and certainty of winning the queen of the mountains jersey. She explained her though process during the stage.
"On the climb, I could see that Demi [Vollering] didn’t want to work with Annemiek [van Vleuten] so I knew that they would look at each other and I decided to take my chance on the downhill, go quite fast and see if I would be able to go,” said Niewiadoma. “It was a perfect scenario. I heard at the bottom of the Tourmalet that the chasers got back together so that wasn’t ideal but I just rode my pace and tried to stay in my zone.
“I was just hoping they would be looking at each other more and I could get more time. But Demi showed how strong she is when she passed me.
“Somehow on the first stages, I knew I would get the polka-dot jersey. I was the only favourite scoring points here and there, so I had a feeling it was gonna be mine.
“I definitely believed I would get the [stage] victory! But I often come 2nd or 3rd… Maybe I need to come to terms with that,” she added, laughing.
