T&T’s Teniel Campbell of Team Jayco Alula had another tough outing when the second edition of the Tour de France Femmes with Swift continued when she placed 130th at the end of the Gahors to Rodez – 177 km/110 miles Stage Four on Wednesday.
Campbell was the sixth member of her seven-member team to cross the finish line, doing so in, four hours, 59.23 minutes, only ahead of Jessica Allen, who ended in 5:00.02 hours, and now sits in the 124th spot overall with a combined time of 16 hours, 31.47 minutes while her team is 19th with, 42.04 minutes behind leaders Team SD Worx (47 hrs 24 mins 25 seconds).
Spain’s Ane Santesteban Gonzalez was the top finisher from Team Jayco-Alulua in the 18th position in 4:40.49, two minutes and ten seconds behind stage winner Yara Kastelijn of Holland, who won in 4:38.39 hours.
The other members of Team Jayco-Alula to finish were Amber Pate, 88th in 4:50.58; Alexandra Manly in 4:58.57 for the 100th position; Georgina Howe, 104th in 4:59.23; and Nina Kessler, 119th in 4:59.23.
Kastelijn made up for the stage three heartbreak of her Fenix-Deceuninck teammate Julie Van de Velde, attacking out of the day's breakaway and soloing to victory in Rodez on the longest stage of the Tour de France Femmes.
It was the first professional road victory for the Dutch cyclocross specialist and came after Van de Velde's solo escape was snuffed out with just 200 meters to go on Tuesday's stage to Montignac-Lascaux.
Kastelijn led the mountains classification after being on the attack on Stage Two but ceded it to her teammate Van De Velde on Stage Three.
Fenix-Deceuninck put two riders in the move - Kastelijn and Marthe Truyen - to keep the jersey but came away with a much bigger prize.
The mountainous finale also had plenty of intrigue for the general classification. The day's escape gained over 10 minutes on race leader Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx), with Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Human Powered Health) holding the virtual maillot jaune for most of the day.
However, after SD Worx sufficiently brought the gap down, Kopecky herself launched a solo move on the penultimate climb to nullify Cordon-Ragot's advantage.
Once back in the group, Kopecky came under attack on the climb from Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar), but her move was deftly negated by Demi Vollering.
On the steep final kicker to the finish, the yellow jersey group made contact with the remnants of the early breakaway, and Demi Vollering (SD Worx) sprinted to second thinking she'd won. Breakaway rider Anouska Koster (Uno-X) held off the elite chasers to take third on the stage.
Koster also moved into the mountains classification lead after taking the most points on the stage.
While Kopecky held onto her race lead, finishing 14th on the stage, Vollering gained 16 seconds on Kopecky and 10 seconds on her rivals, defending champion Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar), Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) and Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal-QuickStep).
Vollering moved into second overall at 43 seconds thanks to the time bonus, with Moolman-Pasio taking the third spot at 51 seconds on the same time as Niewiadoma, Longo Borghini and Van Vleuten.
With her stage win, Kastelijn climbed into seventh overall at one minute behind, with Stage Two winner Liane Lippert (Movistar) eight at 1:39. Juliette Labous (Team DSM-Firmenich) is ninth at 1:48 and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ) rounds out the top 10 at 1:49.
Yesterday's Stage 4 Gahors to Rodez (177 km/110 miles) top 10 finishers
1. Yara Kastelijn (FENIX-Deceuninck) – 4:38.39 hrs
2. Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx) - +01.11
3. Anouska Koster (Uno-X Pro Cycling) - +01.12
4. Annemiek Van Vleuten (Movistar) -+01.13
5. Elisa Longo-Borghini (Lidl-Trek)
6. Katarzyba Niewiadoma (Canyon/Spram Racing)
7. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step)
8. Celia Le Mouel (St Michel Mavic-Auber)
9. Kathrin Hammes (EF Education Tibco) - +01.23
10. Alice Arzuffi (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling)
Overall standings after Stage Three (422.2 km)
1. Lotte Kopecky (SD-Worx) – 15hrs 47 mins 25 secs
2.Demi Vollering (SD-Worx) - +43 seconds
3. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step) - +51
4. Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon/Spram Racing)
5. Elisha Longo-Borghini (LIDL-Trek)
6. Annemiek Van Vleuten (Movistar)
7. Yara Kastelijn (FENIX-Deceuninck) - +01.00 minutes
8.Liane Lippert (Movistar) – +01.39
9. Juliette Labous (Team DSM-Firmenich) - +01.48
10. Cecilie Ludwig (FDJ-Suez) - +01.49
Who’ll be wearing what jersey today
Yellow (Overall Leader):Lotte Kopecky (SD-Worx) 15hrs 47mins 25secs
Green (Points):Lotte Kopecky (SD-Worx) – 128 pts
Polka-dot (Climber): Anouska Koster (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) – 19 pts
White (Youth):Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling) –15hrs 50 mins 32 secs
Team: Team SD Worx – 47 hrs 24 mins 25 seconds
Remaining Stages
Stage 5: July 27: Onet-le-Chateau to Albi – 126 km/78 miles (flat stage)
Stage 6: July 28: Albi to Blagnac – 122 km/76 miles (flat stage)
Stage 7: July 29: Lannermezan to Tournalet Bagneres-de-Bigorre – 90 km/ 56 miles (mountain stage)
Stage 8: July 30: Pau – 22 km/ 14 miles (Individual Time Trial)
