The Tour de France Femmes returned to France on Thursday afternoon with the peloton duking it out on a hilly 152 kilometre stage from Bastogne to Amnéville. From the start the racing was on and Team dsm-firmenich PostNL tried to be present in the break, following the multiple attacks, but nothing stuck. Eventually the race split into some groups, before coming back together and at that moment three riders forged on out front. Having a difficult moment, green jersey Charlotte Kool had to drop from the peloton but with the help of the team she returned, before being dropped a second time; where Becky Storrie helped pace her throughout the day. Coming into the finale the pace was high with the break all but caught, but in the last seven kilometres a large crash split the bunch. Unfortunately, it was a crash that saw Pfeiffer Georgi involved and she ultimately abandoned the race due to the fall. On the bike, the team tried to regroup but the race was split into pieces and Juliette Labous would lead the team home, crossing the line in the main chasing group 28 seconds behind the stage winner.
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Kelvin Dekker expressed: “It’s been quite a hard day for us. It was really sad to lose Pfeiffer in the crash in the finale. That also then of course changed the final and our chances there. Charlotte also had a difficult day today. We had the first few days where there was a big build-up then a big mental relief, but of course that takes a lot of energy and a lot of time, which I think is perfectly normal. She then saw the other side of that today and Becky did a good job to support her to get to the line. Due to the crash we also keep green because it took away the chance for our nearest rivals Vos and Wiebes to go for lots of points, but of course that’s not the way we want to have that fight. At the end of the day we keep green, and Juliette is more or less the same in GC, but we lose Pfeiffer which is the biggest loss for today.”
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL will provide a further update on Pfeiffer Georgi later.