On the ragged edge between peak performance and health, female cyclists find it doesn’t take much to tip over into illness.
Cor Vos
Kristen Faulkner was so exhausted when she crossed the finish line of Stage 2 of the Tour de France avec Zwift she had to be held up by her EF Education-Oatly team’s soigneur. The dual Olympic gold medalist was caught out when a crash forced her to bail into nearby bushes. Faulkner then had to wait for a bike change and commence a long solo slog to the finish line.
She was running her own race: against the time limit. For a rider to start the following day, they must cross the finish within a predetermined percentage of the winning time based on the winner’s average speed. On Monday, that was 15%, or 24:40 more than the 2:44:29 time set by Mavi Garcia (Liv AlUla Jayco). Faulkner finished 147th, at 24:16 down. Four other riders weren’t so fortunate.
We sat together briefly before the start of Stage 3, only because she made the time limit by a mere 24 seconds. We hugged, hunted for some bread, and perched ourselves on a curb away from the amazing crowds that surround the Tour. And it turns out the crash wasn’t the only reason Faulkner had to fight so hard to stay in the race. She let out a sigh as I asked, “What’s up, mate?”
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