Dane Emma Norsgaard Jorgensen won the 6th stage of the Tour de France Women on Friday in Blagnac in Haute-Garonne, where Belgian Lotte Kopecky kept her yellow jersey.
Breaking away at the start of the stage in the company of two other riders, the rider from the Movistar team narrowly resisted the return of the peloton to overtake the Dutch Charlotte Kool and Lotte Kopecky on the eve of the Pyrenean stage which will see the peloton launch on Saturday to attack the Col de l’Aspin and the Tourmalet.
The trio made up of Norsgaard Jorgensen, Poland’s Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka and Spain’s Sandra Alonso counted up to almost two minutes in advance.
The peloton, which seemed to be able to swallow the attackers in the last hectometres, was however disorganized by a fall with a red flame. All profit for the Dane who won in power just ahead of Kool.
This Tour will gain height on Saturday and could experience a decisive day with the Pyrenean stage offering the ascent of the Col de l’Aspin (first category) and above all the arrival at the non-category summit of Tourmalet, at the end of a stage short (90 kilometres) and disputed at the end of the day.
After the twenty-second penalty imposed on Demi Vollering on Thursday (for prolonged shelter behind her team’s car), the Dutchwoman is twelve seconds behind her compatriot Annemiek van Vleuten, world champion and defending champion.
The battle promises to be terrible between the outgoing winner and her runner-up from last year, just like what it was in the spring when Van Vleuten won by just eight seconds.
The French Juliette Labous, fourth in the Grande Boucle last year and currently 10th overall, will also find in the Pyrenees a terrain suited to her qualities as a climber to try to get closer to the podium.
