Tour de France Femmes 2023: Emma Norsgaard holds off breakaway and peloton to take impressive Stage 6 win
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Updated 29/07/2023 at 15:17 GMT+1
A masterful display of cycling from Emma Norsgaard (Movistar) saw her take victory on Stage 6 of the 2023 Tour de France Femmes. Norsgaard was part of the breakaway that led the race for so long, but in the closing stages with the peloton pushing to close the gap, she accelerated away from her fellow escapees and sprinted to victory by a matter of seconds.
Watch highlights of Stage 6 of the Tour de France Femmes as Norsgaard takes victory
Video credit: TNT Sports
Emma Norsgaard (Team Movistar) put in a sensational performance to hold off the peloton to take victory on Stage 6 of the Tour de France Femmes.
Agnieszka Skalniak-Sojka (Canyon//SRAM Racing), Sandra Alonso (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling) and Norsgaard made up a three-rider breakaway that stayed out in front for most of the race.
It was an extremely tense finish as the peloton swarmed behind them in the final few metres.
Norsgaard made her push at just under 500m to go as she could feel the bunch catching her with every pedal stroke.
But no one had any answer to her move as she rode away to take the stage and add it to her 2021 Giro stage win.
Lotte Kopecky retained the yellow jersey after finishing just moments after Norsgaard, slamming her handlebars as she came across the line, likely in frustration she had not been able to catch the Dane.
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Emotional Norsgaard 'lost for words' after Stage 6 win
Video credit: TNT Sports
British rider April Tacey (Lifeplus Wahoo) split from the peloton early on in the stage and was soon joined by a counter-attack from Rachel Neylan (Cofidis Women Team). They didn’t remain ahead for long and were caught by the group behind after only 10km.
Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka (Canyon//SRAM Racing) and Sandra Alonso (CERATIZIT-WNT Pro Cycling) next went clear. The Polish rider dropped Alonso before she took the maximum Queen of the Mountains points at the summit of Cote de la Cadene.
Norsgaard then broke free from the peloton's grasp and went up the road to join Alonso. The two were then 42” behind Skalniak-Sojka as they continued their pursuit, while the peloton were around 2’00” back from the front of the race.
With 71km of the day left, the two chasers caught up with Skalniak-Sojka, but the bunch kept their distance and remained behind. At the top of the second categorised climb Côte de Puycelsi, it was Skalniak-Sojka who crossed the summit first, and she would ultimately replicate the result on the next two climbs.
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'Absolutely phenomenal!' - Norsgaard holds off charging peloton to win Stage 6 by slender margin
Video credit: TNT Sports
After SD Worx had started the stage without their sports director Danny Stam due to his disqualification, it was AG Insurance - Soudal Quick-Step who were the next to be punished. Lotta Henttala was disqualified for holding onto the team car, as was their sports director Servais Knaven.
When the lead trio reached the penultimate climb Cote du Clos Pourtie, Alonso took second behind the rider from Canyon//SRAM and in the bunch behind, Lizzie Deignan (Lidl - Trek) upped the pace at the front.
FDJ-SUEZ’s Jade Wiel then staged a short-lived attack as she was soon brought back to the group by Sarah Roy (Canyon//SRAM Racing) before team-mate Grace Brown further increased momentum. At the same time, a group containing sprinter Charlotte Kool (Team dsm-firmenich) had dropped slightly back from the peloton.
With 53km remaining, two of the four jersey-wearers were involved in a crash in the peloton which saw Polka dot jersey Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) and white jersey Cédrine Kerbaol (CERATIZIT-WNT Pro Cycling) both affected, as well as Veronica Ewers (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) and team-mate Kathrin Hammes, and Julie Van de Velde (Fenix-Deceuninck).
While all of the other riders who were affected were back on their bikes briskly, Ewers remained down for some time before she continued the race in what looked to be considerable pain. Jersey wearers Kastelijn and Kerbaol made it back to the peloton with ease and the group containing Kool also rejoined the bunch.
As the peloton reached the summit of the final climb, Cote de la Gayre, Brown was once again leading the peloton who were now 1’30” behind the three riders at the front of the race, before she attacked to pick up the speed in the chase again.
At the intermediate sprint in Hameau de Rastel, roles were slightly reversed for the lead group as Alonso took the points this time, followed by Skalniak-Sójka as UAE Team ADQ now led the peloton.
With 21km remaining another crash took Loes Adegeest (FDJ - SUEZ) and Camille Fahy (St Michel - Mavic - Auber93) down, but the two returned to their bikes hastily as the peloton continued to up the pace once more.
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'Gives me goosebumps' - Van Vleuten savours win for team-mate Norsgaard
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With the increase in pace, a small group of riders including Ella Wyllie (Lifeplus Wahoo), who is second in the young rider classification, became detached. A quick reaction from Wyllie, joined by Teniel Campbell (Team Jayco AlUla), ensured that they rejoined the back of the peloton who had now closed the gap to the front three to under a minute.
As the kilometres flew away so did the seconds and the lead group’s time advantage was reduced to 18” with 5km left, as Jumbo-Visma congregated at the front of the bunch in preparation to set up Vos for the sprint. With 4.2km Norsgaard noticed her compatriots beginning to flag and staged a well-timed attack that Alonso was unable to keep up with.
With one fewer rider to compete with in the front group, Norsgaard and Skalniak-Sojka continued as the peloton loomed behind at 21 seconds. As the leaders crossed under the Flamme Rouge and began the final kilometre, a crash in the peloton consumed a number of riders as they approached a corner, but most continued relatively unscathed.
The peloton prepared to pounce but Norsgaard pushed ahead once more to hold them off for the final few hundred metres that were left in front of her. As Kopecky’s yellow jersey rapidly approached, Skalniak-Sojka was unable to keep up at the front and Canyon//SRAM’s hopes of a second consecutive stage win quickly faded.
Norsgaard crossed the line for her first Tour stage win and her team’s second of the week with a gap of only one second to Kool who was just behind, followed by Kopecky, who retained the yellow jersey for another stage. Vos, tipped by many as a favourite for the stage, finished fourth.
Italians Soraya Paladin (Canyon//SRAM Racing) and Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ) took fifth and sixth place before Julie De Wilde (Fenix-Deceuninck) who was seventh. Marta Lach (CERATIZIT-WNT Pro Cycling) and Vittoria Guazzini (FDJ - SUEZ) were eighth and ninth. Skalniak-Sojka finished in a commendable tenth after her breakaway efforts
Van Vleuten, who was filled with pride for team-mate Norsgaard, goes into the queen stage third in the general classification at 55 seconds behind Kopecky, with Moolman-Pasio two seconds ahead of her in second. Vollering sits in seventh, 1’07” behind her team-mate in the yellow jersey.
The green jersey will be worn by Moolman-Pasio again on behalf of Kopecky, and Kastelijn will wear the polka dots for a second stage. Cédrine Kerbaol (CERATIZIT-WNT Pro Cycling) keeps the white jersey for another stage.
The next stage is the highly anticipated queen stage which includes the revered climbs of Col d'Aspin and Col du Tourmalet, the second of which has never been climbed by a women’s World Tour peloton. The general classification battle continues to flicker, but it could all go up in flames tomorrow as the climbers turn up the heat on the penultimate stage.
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