When Élise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM) attacked just before the top of the Col de la Croix, some may have thought that the Swiss climber was just going for the mountain points. Instead, Chabbey continued her attack on the descent and turned it into a 50-kilometre solo, only being caught 1.3km from the finish.
Asked about her objectives on the stage, Chabbey made it clear that the mountain jersey wasn’t at the front of her mind, reiterating her similar comments from before last year’s Tour de France Femmes.
“The mountain jersey is not a goal in itself. The plan was always to try to go early, to try to create a breakaway that could go further and then maybe help my leaders in the final. But I was alone; in the downhill, I just went full gas, and then on the flat part, I had the gap. So I was like, ‘OK, now I just go for it’,” Chabbey told Cyclingnews.
She built a sizable gap all by herself, and although she was still racing in a support role in her mind, Chabbey’s thoughts eventually turned towards the stage victory.
“When I had three minutes at the bottom of the last climb, I was like, ‘maybe I can go as far as possible, and in case they catch me, I can try to help my leaders’. But I didn’t expect them to catch me that late, and at the end I really believed I could win this stage,” she said
“So, of course, I’m super disappointed I didn’t make it, but it was close, and I still hope to have some more opportunities in the next few days.”
The 31-year-old is third overall after the first stage, 46 seconds behind Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime). But her mindset hasn’t changed, and instead of trying to cement a good GC result on the stage 2 time trial, she is targeting a stage win instead.
“The goal for me was never to go on the GC. So, even if I’m third, I don’t think the TT really suits me. I think I will still stay with my plan that I want to go more for maybe a stage win on stage 3 or 4,” Chabbey finished.
