Bäckstedt, Reusser and Vollering among the big favourites: a bumpy ride in Dijon promises sparks
After a thrilling and eventful third stage that handed the yellow jersey to a surprising breakaway, the fourth stage of the Tour de France Femmes promises to be even more unpredictable. The reason? A 21km individual time trial that promises to shake things up once again.
After the absence of a time trial in last year's edition, the time trial returns to the forefront, and this time it brings with it a significant surprise: a nearly 2km climb right in the middle of the course, capable of breaking the pace of the specialists and opening up intriguing scenarios for the pure climbers.
"You can't really predict how it will go, whether it will be a super favorable day for the climbers or a super favorable day for the time trial specialists," Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM), the reigning U23 time trial world champion, told Cyclingnews before the third stage. This uncertainty is a godsend for fantasy cycling: those who back the right horse can earn valuable points.
The route winds through the Côte d'Or department, a land of vineyards, rolling hills, and historic towns. The athletes will compete for gold at the finish line in Dijon, with an estimated time of around 27 minutes.
The first riders will tackle a relatively flat 7km start. Then comes the main course: a 1.8km climb to Marsannay-la-Côte, with an average gradient of 6.9%. Once past the summit, there's another kilometer at 4% to go to Corcelles-les-Monts. The final 9km are all downhill to the finish line in Dijon, on Avenue du Général-de-Gaulle.
The last time trial seen at the Tour was the flat and lightning-fast 6.3 km in Rotterdam, won by Demi Vollering . This year's course bears no resemblance to that, but the rivals in play are more or less the same, all poised to carve out significant dents in the standings.
Sigrid Haugset (Uno-X Mobility), winner of stage three with a solo breakaway from afar and now in the yellow jersey, will be the last to start from the Gevrey-Chambertin ramp on Tuesday. She holds a more than two-minute lead over many of the favorites, including elite world time trial champion Marlen Reusser (Movistar). It will be interesting to watch Haugset's time trial performance: last year at the World Championships, she finished 11th in the time trial, 3:15 behind Reusser. Haugset currently has a 2:06 advantage over Vollering (who suffered a crash on stage 3 and will be evaluated before Tuesday's start) and a whopping 6:22 over Bäckstedt.
Once the first 20 athletes have started, the interval between starts will be extended from one to two minutes. Interestingly, the top two contenders in the youth classification will be separated by just one athlete: Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek), second in the U24 rankings, will start at 5:00 PM, while the top-placed athlete, Paula Blasi (UAE Team L'IMAD), will start at 5:04 PM.
Reusser will begin her ride at 5:08 PM, followed by reigning Tour champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike), who heads the top ten. Vollering will depart at 5:24 PM, Kim Le Court-Pienaar at 5:26 PM, and Haugset, wearing the yellow jersey , will close the program at 5:28 PM.
The first rider among the 138 riders will be Mexico's Romina Hinojosa (Lotto-Intermarché), who will kick off at 2:51 PM CEST. From the second half of the starting lineup, Pan-American time trial winner Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly) will set off at 4:20 PM. Nine riders and nine minutes later, it will be Bäckstedt's turn.
With gaps already significant in the general classification after just three stages, this time trial could be decisive in defining the true protagonists of the race.
Photo: Sprint Cycling Agency
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