After getting caught in an early crash on stage 3 of the Tour de France Femmes, overall favourite Demi Vollering was back among the attackers late on as the race reached France.
The Dutch rider fell along with new mountains classification leader Puck Pieterse and world champion Magdeleine Vallieres as the peloton raced up the day's opening climb, just 13km into the race.
Vollering avoided serious injury and was quick to get back on her bike. However, after warming down following the stage finish in Poligny, she looked to be walking gingerly after climbing off her time trial bike.
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Vollering's team refused media requests for both her and her teammate Célia Gery after the stage, which was run through the Jura hills in temperatures reaching 35°C. Team directeur sportif Nicolas Maire was on hand to break down the stage and said that Vollering will undergo further checkups ahead of Tuesday's stage 4 time trial.
"She looks OK. We'll try to see with the physio how she feels, but we have to do a checkup this evening and see how it goes tomorrow," he told Cyclingnews before admitting that he had expected more action from the stage, which saw a group of 37 eventually come together behind phenomenal solo winner Sigrid Haugset and second-placed Lotte Kopecky.
"We were expecting a bit more from the stage, but I think at one point there is like a poker game, and nobody wants to play for the other, so we lost time," he said, remarking on the time gap to Haugset.
The Norwegian launched her astounding attack 89km from the finish line, holding off a charging Kopecky on the road to Poligny. Further back, a larger chase group of GC favourites went clear and then regrouped with those dropped behind as their deficit ballooned to almost three minutes as Vollering and fellow GC contenders Kim Le Court-Pienaar and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney traded blows over the day's final hills.
"I would say it's a pity for all the GC contenders, but I just say that Uno-X played well and they deserve the win and the yellow jersey," he added.
"The Tour is still long, and we'll fight in the next day to come back in the GC, but yeah, we were expecting a bit more from this stage. We tried to be in the breakaway with Célia, but it didn't work exactly as we wanted
"I think we missed the move with Kopecky, and that's a bit of a pity if we just look at our race."
Maire also said that he expected a bit more work at the front of the chase from Visma-Lease a Bike in particular. The Dutch team had reigning champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Femke de Vries among the lead group, later joined by their sprinter Marianne Vos on the flatter run-in to Poligny.
"There are a lot of riders like Le Court-Pienaar and Vos who can come here and play for a win, especially without Wiebes. So, I was expecting that they would chase a bit more. Nobody wants to ride for the other, and we arrive at almost three minutes," he said, before turning attention to the time trial, a 21km test against the clock to Dijon.
"I would say I expect a good TT from Demi, but we know that, for example, normally she will lose time on Reusser, on maybe Van der Breggen," he concluded.
"Normally, she can win some seconds on some GC contenders, so that's what we are looking for. If she plays really well, I think she can for sure try to be on the podium on this stage."
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