Annemiek Van Vleuten (Movistar) was considered the favorite to win the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift after her victory at the Giro d'Italia Donne and her reputation for being nearly unbeatable on long, tough climbs, but early in the race, that prediction Early in the race, the predicted outcome was about to be rewritten.

In poor shape and pushed by his teammates, visibly struggling on the gradients that would normally leave him breathless, the Dutch rider even considered abandoning the race, which had been his main goal this year. However, a recovery came just in the nick of time.

"I can't believe I'm wearing the yellow jersey now, after having had a very hard second and third day and being in such bad shape," Van Vleuten told reporters at the post-stage media conference. I still didn't feel good until yesterday. [On stages 2 and 3, I raced while feeling sick. On stages 5 and 6, I felt residual muscle pain in my legs. Even on stage 7, I didn't feel like I had recovered from my illness."

But not only did she recover, she regained her usual formidable climbing form, breaking away early in stage 7 and taking yellow at the top of the final stage, La Super Planche des Belles Fils. He also took a commanding lead of 3:14, and all he needed to do to win the long-awaited return of the Tour de France Fam was to hold off two rivals, Demi Vollaring (SD Works) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), within five minutes.

But defensive riding did not come naturally to Van Vleuten, who wanted to add to his overall victory by wearing yellow at the final summit finish to produce the goosebump-inducing moment of a stage win.

"When I scouted the stage, I told the team that I would go for the win if I could and that a yellow victory in Planche would be the best way to end the stage. It was special to have the crowd cheering my name."

Van Vleuten crossed the finish line alone, 30 seconds ahead of second-place Vollering, and 3:48 ahead of the rest of the field to taste a landmark moment, the first official women's Tour de France victory in 33 years. There was no doubt how much this victory meant to her, and her grin comfortably overpowered her giggles on the final, agonizingly steep climb, and she cried tears of joy after crossing the finish line.

The victory in the women's return to the Tour de France was historic, and the crowd-filled race was a pivotal moment in the development of women's cycling.

"Having the Tour de France created more possibilities, more money for cycling, more live TV coverage, and more commercial marketers interested in us. This is how it develops to the point where more and more women earn the minimum salary to be active full time. To get more competitors, more fights, not just Dutch riders on the podium," Van Vleuten said, adding that the stage win by Denmark's Cecilie Uttrup-Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ-Futuroscope) on stage 3 was The stage win by Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ-Futuroscope) of Denmark was welcomed as a blow to the dominance of Dutch riders in the race.

Van Vleuten said that the 2022 event is a "balanced" course, "much harder" than the usual stage races, and a great way to start the effort with a big battle for the break, jersey, and points. But that doesn't mean she doesn't want to change in 2023, which is expected to be her last race as a Tour de France fam, given that she plans to retire at the end of that season.

"I hope to be able to do the Alpe d'Huez," Van Vleuten said. "In the history of the Tour de France Femme, there have been big battles in the Alpe d'Huez before. "

Some 39 year olds want it excluded.

"I would like to see Gravel excluded because it brings a lot of stress and bad luck for GC contenders. The gravels in stage 4 were passed through without incident, but like many of our GC rivals, there were stressful moments.

The Tour de France Femmes did not feature a race against the clock, a staple of the men's Grand Tour. For an Olympic and two-time world champion in this discipline, it is not surprising that it is at the top of the wish list to be added to next year's race.

"We need a time trial for the big Tour. Our calendar lacks time trials. Time trials are an important discipline and I think it's important to have time trials as part of a Grand Tour like this."

." I hope that each year we can make this event an even greater success."