The Troyes-Bar-sur-Aube stage made more than one runner dream.
During the formal presentation of the teams the day before the start in Meaux, the fourth day of racing was the most spontaneous response that came to the riders questioned when they were asked which stage she dreamed of winning.
The explanation?
The presence of four white paths on the 126.8 kilometers of the course, that is to say unpaved roads.
A total of 12.9 kilometers of gravel, stones and dust reminiscent of the Italian classic of the Strade Bianche, dubbed the "most beautiful bike race" by many cycling enthusiasts.
In these sections where anything can happen, in the dust kicked up by the frames, the legend of the bike can be written.
The white paths, "I find it fun", said Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig before the start of the fourth stage.
© Fabien Boukla, ASO
“I find it fun personally,” enthuses Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, leader of the FDJ-Suez Futuroscope, before taking the start.
"I think it's cool that on a Grand Tour we have to compete on all terrains: flat, bumps, mountains or white paths..."
Risk of punctures
However, these steps cause cold sweats for many teams.
And for good reason: with their protruding stones, these sectors are particularly prone to mechanical incidents, starting with punctures.
>> To read also on France 24: Tour de France Women: alongside the FDJ team during its catastrophic stage
"All the stages are stressful, so this one is not exceptional", nuances the Australian Grace Brown, road captain of the FDJ.
"It's mainly our mechanics who will stress."
"The white paths are dangerous especially for the wheels. There is a risk of pinch punctures or that small flints cross the tires", explains Lucas Fouquet, the chief mechanics of the FDJ.
The 32-year-old is in his fourth season with the only French team in the World Tour, cycling's highest division.
From the day before the stage, he is hard at work preparing the bikes which are about to cross the Champagne vineyards.
As soon as the latter have arrived from Épernay, where Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig has won, they are methodically cleaned and prepared, drawing from the impressive mechanical truck where three frames per rider and around forty pairs of wheels are carefully stored.
Lucas Fouquet cleans the bikes after the stage.
© Rome
General mobilization
For the FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope, what counts on a stage of this kind is the preparation.
Every detail has been anticipated to put their riders in the right conditions, especially as Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Australian Grace Brown know how to perform well on this type of terrain.
They respectively finished third and eleventh in the last edition of the Strade Bianche.
"We were preparing for this stage. We did reconnaissance in different conditions: by car, by bike, by filming it... It's a special stage, but our girls are technical and are used to it", praises Stephen Delcourt, the general manager. of the team.
"We will have to be forward and instinctive, because anything can happen and the four-leaf clover that we didn't have on Monday is with us today."
The impressive truck dedicated to FDJ mechanics © Romain Houeix, France 24
The team also sounded the general mobilization: from the nutritionist to the logistics manager, everyone was assigned a repair point where they can serve as assistants and hand out spare wheels to the runners.
The team even called on members of Groupama-FDJ, a men's team with which they share a sponsor, to fill the workforce.
Before concluding from the top of his long experience at the head of a team: "We can try to fill the vagaries, but we cannot be everywhere", he predicts.
Impressive calm
He didn't believe so well.
If the FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope has a quiet race at first, driving at the front of the peloton and linking the way of Celles and that of the High Forests without problem, things go wrong a little in the third sector: the Danish Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig dies without an FDJ assistant on the horizon.
The rider did not panic however and saw her Italian teammate Vittoria Guazzini stop and hand her her rear wheel to help her out.
In impressive calm, the Dane took off her punctured wheel to replace it with the one given by her partner, while the Italian hailed the neutral service car to recover a wheel.
She then manages to bring her leader back to the peloton.
"When I had the puncture, Vittoria and Marie [Le Net (French)] were brilliant, says Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig after the race. They spotted the problem and they were so quick to help me out and bring me back. It was like being in a movie. A good movie!"
"We knew that sector three was tough. We had placed someone in the middle, but Cecilie punctured a little before her position", hot debrief Cyril Maire, sports director of the training.
"In those moments, they are reminded in the headset to stay calm. This is the advice they were told before the race: composure is essential."
🛠 Yesterday's winner 🇩🇰@CUttrupLudwig suffered a puncture in a gravel section.
🍇 🍇
Victorious yesterday in Épernay, 🇩🇰@CUttrupLudwig does not have the same success today, she died on a white road.
🍇#TDFF #WatchTheFemmes pic.twitter.com/qYUNWDCmZY
— The Tour de France Women with Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) July 27, 2022
"Vittoria and Marie had the role of protecting the leaders, and in the event of an incident on a gravel road, helping them out by giving them their wheel, explains Cyril Maire. They really did a great job by sacrificing themselves today ".
Added to this troubleshooting, a ruse by Grace Brown.
While the puncture of her leader was announced to her in the headset, she took control of the peloton to print a momentary false rhythm and allow the Dane to return to the peloton.
What it will do in the descent following the sector.
Unfortunately, the next one smiles less at the Australian.
She in turn suffered a puncture on the Chemin de Vitry.
However, the teammates having already been sacrificed, no one from the team can help her, when she could have had her chance in the final of the stage.
"There was no one left," laments Cyril Maire.
"And the time to repair, it was too late to hope for a result when she was one of our two riders protected today."
The spectacular and the reasonable
Despite this twist of fate, the FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope still has a card up its sleeve: the Frenchwoman Évita Muzic.
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig's lieutenant for the mountains takes advantage of not being marked by the team leaders to escape in pursuit of the Swiss Marlen Reusser.
If she does not catch up with the winner of the day, she manages to settle her small group in a sprint to climb on the second step of the podium.
“There is necessarily an element of luck in this kind of day. Even I was unlucky with a chain jamming in the last sector. Then, luck turned, smiles Evita Muzic. We mastered breakage when there was any."
The white paths stage has therefore reserved its dose of spectacle.
However, the presence, even the omnipresence of these in recent years in cycling races, is decried by some of the followers: too random and above all out of step with the spirit of road races.
🍇 What a spectacular scenery!
😍
🍇 What a beautiful setting!
😍#TDFF #WatchTheFemmes pic.twitter.com/GfCnDSpuAX
— The Tour de France Women with Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) July 27, 2022
“Me, I like that we have these sections, loose the Australian of the FDJ, Grace Brown. As long as they are chosen with care and that they are not dangerous… But we should not cross the not too much which would be gravel descents."
Its general manager does not say anything different: "You need a balance between the spectacular and the reasonable. Today, the layout is of the order of the reasonable. Their presence must remain moderate and that we pay particular attention to our riders", concludes Stephen Delcourt.
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