Ruth Moves Up In Big Mountain Stage

Rebecca Much’s report about today’s race: “It was a hard day. You just go straight up right away from the start. It was brutal.”

Brooke Miller chats with race leader Emma Pooley at the start of “étape cinq”.
“USA national team lead the race out really hard from the very start” so they could set-up a breakaway for their riders. They got 2 riders off the front along with anybody who mattered, including Emma Pooley. Then TIBCO riders Rebecca and Amanda along with several Dutch team Nederland-Bloeit team riders worked together to chase hard and bring the breakaway back into the pack. “And, it worked for awhile, but then the pack got really spread out at the next climb” said Rebecca.

Our own Ruth Corset started her day in 25th and finished in 19th place. Amanda Miller moved up 3 places. Brooke Miller moved up to 54th (from 62nd yesterday). Emma Mackie gained one place.

Third Place Racer Wins Day in Strange Mix Up.
There was strange and unfortunate mix up at today’s finish. Near the end of today’s race, on the way into town, two Nederland riders, Marianne Voss and Annemiek Van Vleuten were leading the race by approximately 1-minute. Tragically, they were lead down the wrong street by the official motorcycle ahead of them. The next rider on course, Katheryn Mattis was lead down the correct path and then suddenly was in first place.

As of 10:00PM, Katheryn was still today’s stage winner, with no announcement about the error by French officials. “Quel distastre!”