Visma | Lease a Bike critical after Mont Ventoux: ‘We need to find out exactly why’

Visma | Lease a Bike was unable to make a significant impact in Stage 7 of the Tour de France Femmes. The Dutch squad had been targeting the Mont Ventoux stage with Pauline Ferrand-Prévot for months, but before the start that plan was expanded to give three climbers a chance. Marion Bunel ultimately proved the strongest of them, finishing 11th.

Ferrand-Prévot and Femke de Vries started the seventh stage in 15th and 16th place in the general classification, both more than five minutes behind the yellow jersey. That meant the focus on Mont Ventoux was primarily on the stage victory. “That’s what we’re going for, with Pauline, Femke and Marion. There’s less stress because you have less to lose. That makes it easier,” sports director Jos van Emden told NOS before the start.

“That might give you more riders to race with in the finale, whereas otherwise everything would have been focused on Pauline,” the Dutchman continued. “I expect the selection to begin on the penultimate climb, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s already full gas on the descent. FDJ United-SUEZ will ride flat out to try to drop Marlen Reusser.”

Van Emden’s hopes were partly based on the battle for the podium between Marlen Reusser, Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma. “Those riders have history with each other, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they end up watching each other very closely. We hope we can take advantage of that.”

Things turned out very differently, as Niewiadoma rode away alone after the work done by FDJ and the pace remained relentless all the way to the summit. Ferrand-Prévot, De Vries and Bunel were unable to challenge at the very front. Bunel eventually finished as Visma | Lease a Bike’s best rider in 11th place, 5 minutes and 38 seconds behind the winner.

“Of course I had hoped for more, but I gave everything today. For that reason, I think I can be satisfied with this performance,” Bunel said via the team’s official channels. “It is a special day in the history of women’s cycling and I feel honoured to be part of it. I also want to say that I’m incredibly proud of my teammates.”

Visma | Lease a Bike did everything they could to position their three leaders well, but ultimately to no avail. “It may sound strange, but even though I couldn’t compete for the victory, I still enjoyed it,” Ferrand-Prévot said. “It was a beautiful climb and I especially enjoyed seeing Marion do so well.”

Ferrand-Prévot still wants to win with Visma | Lease a Bike in the final two stages, with the team yet to take a victory in this Tour. Team manager Rutger Tijssen was prepared to be more critical. “We simply weren’t good enough today. We’ll have to spend some time figuring out exactly why that was,” he said. “Tomorrow we’ll make a new plan again. A new day brings new opportunities.”