De Vries rushes to fourth place in time trial and retains third place in Tour de l'Ardèche classification
Femke de Vries put in an impressive performance in the fourth stage of the Tour de l'Ardèche. The 31-year-old rider from Team Visma | Lease a Bike finished fourth in the individual time trial, retaining her third place in the general classification. Youngsters Viktória Chladoňová and Marion Bunel also made a good impression with twelfth and seventeenth place respectively.
In Vals-les-Bains, France, the riders were presented with a time trial of over twenty kilometres. De Vries, who started second to last as number three in the classification, paced herself well and completed the course in 28 minutes and 44 seconds. This meant she only had to concede to Mischa Bredewold, Monica Trinca Colonel and Maeva Squiban.
"We have a good position for the coming days."
"I can definitely be satisfied with this", De Vries said afterwards. "I had to get into my rhythm at first. On the climb, I couldn't quite reach the numbers I wanted to, but thanks to the encouragement of sports director Jos van Emden, I kept up a good pace. At the end, I still had a lot of power left to race as fast as possible to the finish. All in all, I'm happy with how it went."
De Vries still sits in third place in the general classification. Chladoňová (seventh) and Bunel (tenth) are also doing well for the yellow and black brigade. "We have a good position for the coming days. Tomorrow's stage suits us well, so we're going to make the most of it. I think there's even more possible than we've shown so far."
Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche
Stage 4
Result
1
Mischa Bredewold
Team SD Worx - Protime
00:28:18
2
Maeva Squiban
UAE Team ADQ
+00:00:13
3
Monica Trinca Colonel
Liv AlUla Jayco
+00:00:22
4
Femke de Vries
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:00:26
12
Viktória Chladoňová
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:00:55
17
Marion Bunel
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:01:08
32
Mijntje Geurts
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:01:58
35
Maud Oudeman
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:02:02
54
Rosita Reijnhout
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:02:27
Rankings
1
Mischa Bredewold
Team SD Worx - Protime
06:50:00
2
Maeva Squiban
UAE Team ADQ
+00:00:26
3
Femke de Vries
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:00:32
7
Viktória Chladoňová
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:01:08
10
Marion Bunel
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:01:28
23
Rosita Reijnhout
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:02:40
33
Maud Oudeman
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:03:13
60
Mijntje Geurts
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:09:03
