Rolling out from Huy this afternoon, cold and rainy conditions poured over the peloton, before they eventually abated as the late-afternoon sunshine broke through in the finale. Working well as a unit, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL set out with the plan of riding to protect Juliette Labous throughout the day, keeping her safe and conserving as much energy as possible for the kick up the famous Mur de Huy. Doing just that, the penultimate ascent of the Mur saw the bunch thin down but Labous was well positioned by the team, and the same can be said for the run onto the Côte d’Ereffe. From there, several probing counter attacks were launched but things would ultimately come back together on the lower slopes of the climb. Labous then dug as deep as she could to follow the race favourites for as long as possible, eventually having to let go of the wheels at around 300 metres to go, before fighting to the line for a solid seventh place.
Speaking after the race Labous expressed: “Today was very cold, rainy race. Mentally it was a hard one and I’m pretty proud of all of us who kept on fighting until the end. The first two hours nothing really happened and then it was all about the final. The girls put me in a really good position for the last time up Ereffe and then I gave everything to the finish line. I felt really good actually and seventh is the best I could get. I tried to follow the top riders and go as deep as I could, but then I exploded a bit at around 300 metres to go. I’m pretty happy with seventh and hope I can do even better on Sunday to get a nice result with the team.”
