Kim Le Court questions Vollering and rivals after Ferrand-Prévot is dropped: ‘They must trust their time trial’

Kim Le Court appeared to be the leading candidate to take the yellow jersey from Lorena Wiebes during stage 3 of the Tour de France Femmes, but events unfolded differently. Sigrid Haugset won the stage and moved into yellow after the general classification contenders spent much of the finale watching one another. Le Court was clearly frustrated by the outcome when she spoke after the finish.

Le Court and her AG Insurance–Soudal teammates were well aware that the yellow jersey was within reach on Monday. Her team tried to control as much of the race as possible, but they could not prevent Haugset from making a clever move just as groups were coming back together. With few riders available to respond at that moment, the Uno-X Mobility rider quickly opened a substantial advantage over the peloton.

“We knew we had to bring the gap to Sigrid down to less than a minute to take yellow, but my teammates had already done such a great job during the rest of the stage that I no longer had them with me when I needed them in the finale,” Le Court explained honestly after the finish in an interview with Eurosport. Le Court began the day second in the general classification, and that is where she remains.

With no teammates left beside her in the finale, Le Court decided to attack herself on the Côte de Chaux-Champagny, the final climb of the day. The narrow, rough road caused the group to split, with Demi Vollering of FDJ United–SUEZ, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot of Visma | Lease a Bike and Anna van der Breggen of SD Worx–Protime among those initially unable to follow.

Vollering, in particular, quickly managed to close the gap. However, although Ferrand-Prévot remained behind and several other general classification riders had also been distanced, the leaders did not continue to push the pace. “I did expect something from the other teams because it was also an opportunity for them to take the yellow jersey today,” Le Court said when discussing their tactics.

The Mauritian rider could not understand why the group failed to commit on two separate occasions, especially as Vollering also tried a move of her own later in the finale. Were the other riders worried about putting Le Court into yellow? “I could have had a puncture or something else could have happened. It was not a foregone conclusion that I would take the yellow jersey,” she said critically.

In the end, the main general classification contenders crossed the finish line together, while Le Court watched Haugset take yellow. The Norwegian did so with a significant advantage and will defend a lead of more than two minutes over her nearest challenger, Le Court, in Tuesday’s time trial. Le Court therefore ended her interview with a sarcastic observation: “It’s a shame. Apparently, everyone has a lot of confidence in tomorrow’s time trial.”