What a great nine days of racing, especially for Oro-Medonte, Ont.’s talented climber (and ‘cross and MTB’er) Isabella Holmgren.
The Lidl-Trek rider capped off her first Tour de France Femmes with another huge result, attacking from the GC group on the final stage to Nice and moving into eighth overall.
Holmgren’s Tour de France Femmes
The 21-year-old Lidl-Trek rider came into the Tour fresh from winning the white jersey and finishing seventh overall at the Giro d’Italia Women. She was fantastic there too, showing she truly belonged with the favourites in the climbs.
Holmgren had already shown her form on the hilly fifth stage, breaking into the top 10, and she was again aggressive on Sunday as the race tackled the Col d’Èze four times.
After the first two ascents helped split the peloton, Holmgren attacked on the third time up the 7.8-km climb. She reached the summit with roughly a minute in hand, but her advantage had fallen to 30 seconds by the time the final lap began.
The Canadian’s gambit
Her solo move eventually came to an end with 4 km remaining on the final climb and 19 km left to race. But damn, she went in and went for it. It was great to see for us Canadian fans!
Kasia Niewiadoma attacked shortly afterwards, forcing race leader Demi Vollering to respond. Vollering eventually made her own move near the summit and held on to win the stage and secure her second Tour de France Femmes title.
For Holmgren, the Tour was as much about learning as results.
“The main goal was just to learn. It’s my first Tour and I’ve never experienced something like this before,” she said. “We have the best team and it’s so nice to learn from all of the girls and have them there to support.”
Looking back on the Tour de France Femmes
She pointed to day five as one of the highlights of her race, when Lidl-Trek put three riders into the breakaway and raced aggressively throughout the day.
“I think stage five is probably one of the best stages that I had, but also for the team,” Holmgren said.
The Mont Ventoux stage was a different story. Holmgren finished 10th but was disappointed with her performance, although she said she had given everything she had on the day.
“I was disappointed with Ventoux but, on that day, it was everything that I had, so I need to be happy,” she said.
That attitude may be one of the biggest takeaways from a Tour that has given Holmgren another taste of racing against the best riders in the world.
“It makes me really hungry,” she said. “I know that the level is really, really high, but I want to be there in the future so I’m definitely very motivated.”
With a Giro white jersey, seventh place in Italy and now eighth in her Tour debut, Holmgren leaves France with another major result. There’s lots ahead for the multiple world champ…including the road worlds in Montreal. Mont Royal suits her well…