As Tour de France Femmes sensation Maëva Squiban soloed to her second stage victory in as many days over the Col du Granier and the GC contenders raced to a stalemate, Ruth Edwards scored the best Tour result of her two participations, taking third in Chambéry.
Edwards returned to racing last season, having retired at the end of 2021. She joined Human Powered Health and quickly signed a two-year extension to stay with the US squad.
32-year-old Edwards, who won the Lotto Thüringen Tour last season and made her Tour Femmes debut, battled through illness at the race last July, but has fared far better this time around.
Squiban left Mereille Meijering (Movistar) behind 3km from the top of the Granier, but as the Frenchwoman raced off to the win, Edwards emerged along with Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek).
Demon descender Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) may have come past the American in the closing sprint, but a stage podium was still a positive, and well-deserved, outcome for Edwards.
"Oh, it was long and hard, but I somehow managed to survive for third, which is just really great," Edwards told Cyclingnews and Velo after the stage. "Cédrine came from I-don't-know-where to get second, and first was up the road quite a bit. I couldn't quite climb with them, but it was a good day.
"[It's been] a bit up and down, but we've been riding together super well, and we have a good atmosphere here. We've been trying our best, and this is the best result we've had so far, so it's been successful."
Edwards and the rest of the Human Powered Health team are supporting their GC leader, Barbara Malcotti, at this year's Tour. She lies in 14th place with the queen stage up the Col de la Madeleine coming up.
The big test for Malcotti, who recently finished eighth at the Giro d'Italia Women, will come on Saturday's summit finish, where she'll hope to move up from her 14th position overall.
Edwards will be riding in support of the 25-year-old, but won't be there at the top herself.
"I expect to drop the climbers off at the bottom and enjoy the views," Edwards joked.
"It's totally fine that I've burnt matches going into tomorrow, because for me, the big goal here is supporting Barbara and climbing GC," she said. "Otherwise, looking for opportunities to be in the breakaway and go for results."
"I haven't done that yet, so the fact that I've done that today is a huge win for us as a team. If I'm tired tomorrow, Barbara knows I'll still give my all for her, and I'm really excited to climb the Madeleine. It's a famous climb and we've never done it, so tired or not, I'll enjoy it."
Whatever happens on the 19km Alpine ascent, the biggest climb of the race, Edwards can be happy with her week's work, especially compared with her brutal time in France last summer.
"Oh, it was a terrible race, to be honest," she said. "I was super sick and super sick for two weeks afterwards, and wondered what I was doing returning to cycling, because I can't keep up.
"But this year, I'm obviously really part of the race, and it feels really fun to get a result.
"As we go forward, there are some really fun, big mountains, and you just don't know what's going to happen, so we just keep some good vibes and keep trying."
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