Stage 2 of the Tour de France Femmes was earmarked as one of the harder stages of the race, featuring six classified climbs and many other unclassified ascents on a mountainous route through the Massif Central. Compared with the opening day, it was raced much more aggressively, with several breakaways animating the rainy stage.
It was the first of back-to-back hilly stages of the eight-day race, building to the queen stage on the penultimate stage 7 on July 29 with a summit finish at the iconic Tourmalet. Climbers like Georgia Williams (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) were off the front of the race on Monday, and she poke to Cyclingnews at the finish in Mauriac.
“Everyone knew it was going to be a hard day. There was so much climbing, that made the race pretty fast because everyone was constantly fighting for position. And we had wet roads and sketchy descents, that also makes it faster because everyone wants to be in the front,” Williams explained the nervousness in the peloton.
The New Zealander was part of a two-rider breakaway with Hannah Ludwig (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) that went early on the constantly up-and-down 151.7km route, starting with a climb out of Clermont-Ferrand and never really letting up after that.
