08/06/26 11:55:00
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08/06 11:53 CDT Le Court-Pienaar wins Stage 6 of Women's Tour de France,
Reusser retains the overall lead
Le Court-Pienaar wins Stage 6 of Women's Tour de France, Reusser retains the
overall lead
TOURNON-SUR-RHONE, France (AP) --- Mauritian rider Kim Le Court-Pienaar won the
sixth stage of the Women's Tour de France in a sprint to the line on Thursday,
while Marlen Reusser kept the race leader's yellow jersey.
Le Court-Pienaar attacked from 300 meters out and held off Frenchwoman Cedrine
Kerbaol and Dutchwoman Puck Pieterse, who was third. Le Court-Pienaar lay on
her back in a mixture of exhaustion and elation as she savored her victory
after winning in about four hours.
"It was a crazy day. I had a mechanical problem and had to change my bike," Le
Court-Pienaar said. "It was 50 kilometers from the end and it was very
stressful. It was very hard to get back and I used up a lot of energy."
The Swiss rider Reusser maintained her overall lead of 12 seconds from
Dutchwoman Demi Vollering, with Poland's Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney, 1 minute
and 17 seconds behind in third.
Two-time Giro d'Italia winner Elisa Longo Borghini jumped up a couple of places
to fourth overall to move into outside contention for the title at 2:28 back.
Le Court-Pienaar was ninth at 3:26 behind while defending champion Pauline
Ferrand-Prvot of France was 15th.
Six climbs
Stage six took riders on a 153-kilometer (95-mile) route featuring five modest
climbs and one tricky category 2-level climb --- the third-hardest category in
the race --- before a downhill dash to Tournon-sur-Rhne in the Ardche region
of south-central France.
A three-rider breakaway formed early on. But they were soon caught heading up
the Cat. 2 Col de Lalouvesc, a grind of nearly 9 kilometers.
Another breakaway formed shortly after, with two-time Olympic road race bronze
medalist Longo Borghini among them. Following the day's last climb up Cote de
Boucieu-le-Roi they were joined by Le Court-Pienaar, winner of the
Lige--Bastogne--Lige classic last year.
Behind them, 2023 Tour champion Vollering upped the pace but the peloton could
not get to within 15 seconds of the leading eight riders, who contested the
stage win. Le Court-Pienaar's extra power made the difference as she attacked
from deep.
"I had a difficult time trial ( on Tuesday )," she said. "I found my legs
today. This was for my team, my husband, they sacrifice a lot for me."
Friday's seventh stage is for climbers and ends with a mammoth 15.7-kilometer
ascent of the iconic Mont Ventoux.
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
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