Katarzyna Niewiadoma won the women’s Tour of France by just four seconds. Anniina Ahtosalo was sixth in the points competition.
The women’s tour of France was completed on Sunday. Finnish promise For Anniina Ahtosalo20, the famous stage winner was the first. The sprinter from the Norwegian Uno-X Mobility team thought the experience was amazing.
– It is the biggest competition in our team’s competition calendar. There are an incredible number of spectators and the feeling of a really big race around all the time, Ahtosalo describes.
Men competed in the Tour of France for the first time already in 1903. The women’s competition was organized in its current form for the third time. The same entity that runs the men’s competition is responsible for the draw.
Ahtosalo considers it important that the women’s race is finally settling into its place.
– It is important for the sport to move forward. This is the race that gets the most media attention and stuff, so it takes women’s cycling forward tremendously, and has for the past few years.
There is still a long way to go to equality. On the women’s week-long Tour in division was a total of 250,000 euros, including the winner of the overall competition Katarzyna Niewiadoma received 50,000.
The prize pool of the men’s three-week round trip was around 2.3 million euros, and To Tadej Pogacar half a million was paid for the tour’s winnings.
Accidentally to the top spot
The sharp-shooting Ahtosalo was brought to France to score in the first two flat stages, which favored the sprinters. The Opening Day in particular went well, when Ahtosalo crossed the finish line in second place.
He got to keep the jersey of the best young rider of the race in the next couple of stages.
– It was my own, small goal to be able to hold it for at least one or two stages. A very successful start to the Tour.
Experienced EF-Oatly Cannondale Lotta Henttala accompanied a great Finnish start to the race by finishing fourth in both the first two stages.
During the following stages, the Finns acted as assistant coaches for their team, and did not compete for the top positions in the overall competition. However, Ahtosalo was sixth in the sprinters’ points race. You get points especially from the flat stages and intermediate tight spots.
Only the biggest names in women’s cycling, such as the Dutch, were ahead of the Finn in the points Marianne Vos, Lorena Wiebes and Demi Vollering.
– I ended up placing so well by accident, when I was once involved in a breakaway, from which I got a few points. It’s really great. Hopefully sometime in the next years I will be able to seriously compete for the green jersey of the points race.
During the week-long race, 950 kilometers were pedaled.
– When the last few days were really tough mountain stages, which are not the easiest for a sprinter like this to get through, it was a tough race.
A historic victory struggle
There was a raw fight for seconds between Team SD Worx’s Vollering, who won the previous year, and Poland and Canyon/Sram for the overall victory. Katarzyna Niewiadoman between.
Vollering led the overall race but crashed on the fifth stage, so Niewiadoma took the top spot. Vollering started the final, eighth stage in eighth place, one minute and 15 seconds behind the leader.
Vollering broke away and took the stage win on the slopes of Alpe d’Huez, but Niewiadoma held on to the finish in fourth and eventually beat Vollering by four seconds. The margin of victory was the smallest ever for men or women in the Tour de France.
– Those four seconds feel magical. I am in the hills of my happiness. It feels like the winnings have come out of my hands so many times because of different things. This was perfect for me and my team, Niewiadoma quoth.
– I am proud of my performance that day, but also disappointed that the yellow jersey was four seconds away. That seems a bit clumsy, Vollering tear sheet.
A look at the European Championships
Ahtosalo’s competition calendar has entries until the middle of October. One of the most important goals for the rest of the season is the time trial for the under-23 European Championships in September.
A year ago, Ahtosalo belonged to Great Britain by Zoe Bäckstedt winning the race with bronze.
– That is one goal. In any case, there are still a few races that suit me well. I hope there will be good investments from there for the rest of the season as well.