Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Marlen Reusser kept hold of the race leader’s yellow jersey in the Women’s Tour de France after Mauritian rider Kim Le Court-Pienaar won the sixth stage in a thrilling sprint finish.
Le Court-Pienaar attacked from 300m out on Thursday 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 savoured 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 50km from the end and it was very stressful. It was very hard to get back and I used up a lot of energy.”
But Swiss rider Reusser maintained her overall lead of 12 seconds from Dutchwoman Demi Vollering, with Poland’s Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney one 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 is ninth at 3:26 behind while defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot of France is 15th.
Stage six took riders on a 153km 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-Rhone in the Ardeche 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 9km.
Another breakaway formed shortly after, with two-time Olympic road race bronze medallist Longo Borghini among them. Following the day’s last climb up Cote de Boucieu-le-Roi they were joined by Le Court-Pienaar.
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.
Friday’s seventh stage is for climbers and ends with a mammoth 15.7km ascent of the iconic Mont Ventoux.
