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Annemiek van Vleuten crosses the finish line of the eighth and final stage
Photo:
JEFF PACHOUD / AFP
Dutch Olympic time trial champion Annemiek van Vleuten has won this year's revived women's Tour de France after a triumphant ride, completing the double after the Giro triumph.
Like the day before, Van Vleuten outperformed the competition at the showdown on the ramps to La Super Planche des Belles Filles on Sunday and was impressively crowned overall winner.
After eight stages and 1033.8 kilometers, she was 3:48 minutes ahead of compatriot Demi Vollering, who finished second, 30 seconds behind.
Van Vleuten, who will be 40 in October, had to change her bike three times during the tricky phase of the race due to a defect and was almost two minutes behind the leaders on the last descent before the final climb.
But then she literally flew past all her opponents.
National Champion Liane Lippert finished tenth and 14th overall. Lippert was part of a leading group that led the field for a long time and finished the first difficult climb of the Ballon d'Alsace ahead of the favorites.
On the tough final climb, the group had no chance of winning the day.
Van Vleuten already dominated on Saturday
Van Vleuten laid the foundation for the Tour triumph on Saturday when she completed a 62-kilometer solo ride on the mountain stage through the Vosges and took the day's victory with a lead of more than three minutes.
In the meantime, on Sunday, a teammate had to continue on her bike, but she was only briefly stopped by it.
Van Vleuten, who wants to end her successful career at the end of 2023, added another great success this season to her Giro victory.
In addition, the three-time world champion on the road also won the classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège and took second place in the Tour of Flanders, the Flèche Wallonne and the Strade Bianche.
As with the men this year, many fans followed the eighth and final stage on Sunday.
A stage of the men's tour also ended on the Planche des Belles Filles.
Back then, escapee Lennard Kämna was caught just 100 meters from the finish by top stars Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard.
The previous women's tour, which was last named Grande Boucle Feminine Internationale, was held 16 times between 1992 and 2009.
13 years ago, the British Emma Pooley went down in history as the last winner.
After a long break, the ASO tour organizers had put together a follow-up event.
ngo/dpa/sid