Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) took her first WorldTour victory on the road by winning stage 4 of the Tour de France Femmes in a sprint from a group of three ahead of yellow jersey Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM).
The trio had gotten away on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons with Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck), but an attack by Vollering dropped Rooijakkers on the short climb to the Boncelles bonus sprint.
Then 29 seconds later, Kim Le Court finished fourth from a group of 12 riders that also contained GC riders like Évita Muzic (FDJ-Suez), Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek), Kristen Faulkner (EF-Oatly-Cannondale), Rooijakkers, Juliette Labous (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), and Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek).
In the general classification, Vollering has a 22-second lead on Pieterse with Niewiadoma following at 34 seconds. Pieterse also takes the lead in the U23 and mountain classifications.
“It’s unbelievable, actually. The last few days I had super-good legs, and today I didn’t feel my legs at all. To take the win here in a sprint against Demi, that’s really a dream come true,” said Pieterse after the stage.
Despite her lack of road experience, racing the final against Vollering and Niewiadoma didn’t faze the young cyclocross and mountain bike star at all.
“I knew they were riding for GC, and I’m just here for the stage while I’m fresh, so I could poker a bit. I knew Kasia would attack, and Demi would have to follow, so I just tried to keep a poker face and take it from the sprint.
"I think I went quite early in the end, but I’ve never been here, so I didn’t know where the finish line was. We had to wait for what felt like ages for the result, but I am so happy to take the win,” she described the last kilometre where Niewiadoma tried to anticipate the sprint before being closed down by Vollering.
How it unfolded
Covering 122.7km from Valkenburg to Liège, the stage included several well-known climbs from the Amstel Gold Race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) won the first four mountain sprints on the Bemelerberg (twice), Cauberg and Geulhemmerberg, putting her virtually into the polka-dot jersey.
With 90km to go, just before crossing the border to Belgium, Sara Martín (Movistar Team) went on a solo breakaway, building an advantage of up to 1:14 on the peloton. Laura Tomasi (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) tried to bridge the gap but never made it and was reeled in before the intermediate sprint in Pepinster, where green jersey Charlotte Kool (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) won the sprint for second to increase her lead in the points classification.
Martín was held up by a closed railway crossing before the Mont-Theux climb, but her gap was re-established when she got underway again. Nonetheless, the third-category climb spelled the end of her breakaway, and Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) took maximum points at the top.
After a high-speed run-in to the Côte de La Redoute, Pieterse led the peloton up most of the climb, at one point looking back and speaking into her team radio, apparently waiting for her teammates Kastelijn and Rooijakkers to take over.
Rooijakkers did briefly take the lead before Vollering came to the front, and Pieterse took over again. Kastelijn tried to win the mountain points but could not match Vollering’s pace. Pieterse even gave her teammate a push before surging ahead to take the mountain points herself.
The steep climb had reduced the peloton to about 30 riders. Faulkner and her EF teammate Magdeleine Vallières Mill tried to attack but were closed down by Pieterse and Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime), respectively. On the Côte des Forges, Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) beat Kastelijn to the top.
Ghekiere kept going and had a 26-second advantage with 15km to go, just before the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons. Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx-Protime) and Vallières Mill set the pace on the lower slopes of the climb before Vollering came to the front herself.
Niewiadoma, Pieterse and Rooijakkers were the only ones who could follow the maillot jaune, quickly passing Ghekiere. Niewiadoma and Pieterse also took turns on the climb, and Pieterse was first over the top, putting her into the mountain jersey.
The chase group organised on the short downhill, and Vollering attacked into the climb to the bonus sprint with 10km to go, dropping Rooijakkers and going on to take six bonus seconds ahead of Niewiadoma and Pieterse.
Rooijakkers was caught by the chase group, which was 14 seconds behind in Boncelles before descending towards the finish in Liège, but this gap increased to 29 seconds at the finish.
The front group worked together until the final kilometre where, just like in Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April, Niewiadoma launched an attack on the Quai des Ardennes to anticipate a sprint.
Vollering closed the gap, and Pieterse launched her sprint from third position, taking the yellow jersey by surprise and opening a gap. Vollering came back with high speed, but Pieterse won the stage in a photo finish by about half a wheel.
Results
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