Quebecer Olivia Baril was one of the ten fastest riders in the eighth stage of the Tour de France on Sunday, a 28.8 kilometer time trial which she finished seventh in Pau.
The UAE Team ADQ cyclist finished the final stage of the Tour 1 minute and 18 seconds behind the winner, Marlen Reusser of Switzerland.
A member of the SD Worx team, Reusser clocked 29:15. She beat her teammates Demi Vollering and Lotte Kopecky by 10 and 38 seconds.
Vollering still celebrated at the end of the day, all dressed in yellow, while Kopecky came second overall (3 minutes 3 seconds). Poland’s Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM Racing) followed just 21 hundredths of a second from the second step of the podium.
For Olivia Baril, her seventh place in the individual time trial represents her best result of this Tour de France.
“I’m happy because I’m trying to specialize for the Olympics,” she told Sportcom. I was not stressed and I felt ok during the warm-up, then really good when I left. I wanted to do well, but it is beyond my expectations. »
His team had put a lot of effort into the preparation for this event, in training methods like fine-tuning the equipment. The 28.8 kilometer ride also suited Baril’s style very well.
“It was very technical, which is good for me as I ride a time trial bike a lot. A little bump for fun was good! »
Magdeleine Vallières-Mill (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) took 53rd place (3 minutes 8 seconds) on Sunday. Simone Boilard (St Michel – Mavic – Auber93) and Clara Émond (Arkéa) finished 57th (3 minutes 14 seconds) and 89th (4 minutes 5 seconds), respectively.
Clara Émond finished the Tour de France 23rd overall, 25 minutes 5 seconds behind. Olivia Baril follows her closely in 29th place, while Simone Boilard and Magdeleine Vallières-Mill are in 34th and 97th place.
“We worked well as a team, but we had some bad luck with Veronica (Ewers) who crashed on the sixth stage,” said Vallières-Mill, who had then slowed down to wait for the rider protected from his formation. The American broke her collarbone and had to retire afterwards.
“We lost our chance overall, but we kept fighting. I’m happy, the atmosphere was great! To see the fans and the little girls cheering us on, it was a really nice Tour. »
