The third edition of the Tour de France Femmes took riders over 946km from Rotterdam to the top of Alpe d'Huez but, with plenty of obstacles along the way, many of the 153 riders that started did not make it to the end, with 43 riders ultimately withdrawing along the way.
In fact the announcements of the riders having to step away from the race started even before it began, with a positive COVID-19 test for New Zealand's Kim Cadzow on the eve of the event leaving EF-Oatly-Cannondale one rider down and the number of riders in the peloton at the start of stage 1 at 153. Elisa Longo Borghini, on the other hand, was a little earlier in having to pull the pin after a training crash so Lidl-Trek had time to replace the in form Italian rider.
The in race crashes, illness, fatigue and time cuts during the race, however, were final. That left some with stage victory hopes shattered, others with lead out trains taxed and overall contenders having to fight for yellow with the odds stacked against them – such is the inevitability of attrition in stage racing.
Throughout the eight stages and seven days of racing from Monday August 12 to Sunday August 18 that made up the third edition of the Tour de France Femmes, Cyclingnews tracked the withdrawals, so read on for the final tally.
