86-kilometer solo at the Tour de France Femmes: Sigrid Haugset wins stage 3 and conquers yellow

“I was so broken at the end, I know my friend will be mad at me for not cheering, but I just couldn’t lift my arms up anymore,” said the Norwegian.

Antonia Niedermaier crossed the finish line with the peloton on the 156.5 kilometer section from Geneva to Poligny with four mountain classifications, 2:48 minutes behind. The 23-year-old Giro runner-up from the Canyon-SRAM team is fighting for the white jersey of the best young rider. In this ranking, the woman from Rosenheim is a promising third, and in the overall ranking she is the best German in 16th place (+2:18 minutes).

Haugset made history in three ways on Monday: she was the first Norwegian woman to win a stage in the Tour of France, she was the first Norwegian woman to take the overall lead – and no soloist had ridden alone at the front in the Tour de France Femmes for longer than her on the way to the day’s success. “It doesn’t feel real,” said Haugset: “On the way I thought: Second place would be good too. But I got so much cheering over the radio, everyone was pushing me.”

As expected, super sprinter Lorena Wiebes (Netherlands), the confident winner of the first two stages, was left behind early in a demanding profile and sweltering heat of more than 30 degrees and lost the maillot jaune after two days.

On Tuesday, a 21-kilometer, undulating individual time trial from Gevrey-Chambertin to Dijon is on the program. Haugset will be the last rider to roll off the starting ramp with a comfortable 2:02 minute lead over Kim Le Court-Pienaar (Mauritius). The tour ends on Sunday in Nice.