Norway’s Haugset rides to solo win, takes yellow jersey in Tour de France Femmes
Read a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
GENEVA, Aug 3 : Sigrid Haugset sped to a solo victory to become the first Norwegian to win a stage at the Tour de France Femmes on Monday, and took the overall lead from Dutchwoman Lorena Wiebes.
Lotte Kopecky’s bid to catch Haugset failed after a long battle as the Belgian finished one minute and 24 seconds behind the Uno-X Mobility rider. Marianne Vos of the Netherlands crossed the lines third in Poligny.
Haugset, 27, secured an overall lead of two minutes and 22 seconds over Kimberly Le Court of Mauritius.
“I never thought it was possible … it’s unreal,” said Haugset, who also became the first Norwegian to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France Femmes.
Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time
Buzzword
Create words using the given letters
Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge
Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
“I thought (Kopecky) would catch me. I thought, should I drop down to her? Because second is good… but I thought of everyone cheering from home and I had to give it all.”
As the race moved into the hills for the first time, many riders went down in a crash during the category one-climb to Col de la Faucille, including reigning world champion Magdeleine Vallieres and former Tour de France winner Demi Vollering.
Everyone got back on their bikes immediately, and the peloton did not face any breakaway attempts for the rest of the 11.4-km ascent.
HAUGSET LAUNCHES SOLO ATTACK
During the climb to Col de la Savine, Haugset pulled ahead of the bunch. Kopecky pursued her shortly after the halfway mark in the 156.5-km ride, but the Norwegian stayed ahead as the race crossed into France.
Wiebes, riding in yellow, was trailing Haugset by 13 minutes going into the last 20km. Le Court and Vollering, second and third coming into the stage, sat with the peloton over two minutes behind the breakaways.
As Haugset battled exhaustion to stay ahead, Kopecky closed in, reducing the gap to 10 seconds going into the last 10km.
But as the finish line drew closer, 27-year-old Haugset found a second wind, pushing through exhaustion as she put Kopecky nearly a minute back with three kms to go.
Even as Kopecky fell behind, Haugset did not sit up early to celebrate as she sped past the finish line.
“I know my boyfriend will be so angry at me for not celebrating, but I could not even lift my arms off the bike,” Haugset said with a smile.
Source: Reuters
Sign up for our newsletters
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
About The Author
