Date: Tuesday, July 13
Distance: 6.3km ITT
Start location: Rotterdam
Finish location: Rotterdam
Start time: 15:10 CEST
Finish time: 17:50 CEST
Rotterdam is home to the largest port in Europe, which is crucial for international trade, but it originated in the 13th century as a modest fishing village. Its transformation into the port city it is today began in the 14th century when the port gained city rights in 1340. It grew and developed throughout the years with the industrial revolution further accelerating its growth, with the construction of the new waterway, which provided a direct route to the North Sea. This expansion required the development of several bridges that would link the rapidly growing urban areas that were separated by the city’s waterways.
Celebrating Rotterdam’s port heritage, the Tour de France Femmes honours two of the city’s most important and notable bridges – Erasmus Bridge and Willemsbrug Bridge. The Erasmus, often referred to as The Swan due to its elegant design, is a cable-stayed bridge that connects the northern and southern parts of Rotterdam. The Willemsbrug is a striking red cable-stayed bridge that is named after King William III of the Netherlands. The Women’s WorldTour peloton will cross the two bridges one-by-one during a 6.3km-long individual time trial around Rotterdam.
The course is short in length and has little elevation – the only rises coming from the entrance to the two bridges. Much of the route is on straight roads, however, there is a u-bend around a roundabout 1.3km into the route and a few left-hand turns. Other than that, this course should produce some lightning quick speeds for the TT specialists of the peloton if they have recovered well from stage two, which takes place earlier that same day. While not a difficult stage, it will be a test of attrition after already racing for 70km prior to starting the ITT.
Stage profile sourced via ASO
Contenders
Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez) will go into this stage as the favourite, having come away from Paris with an Olympic gold medal in the individual time, winning by a big lead of one minute and 31 seconds over second place. While the Olympic ITT was longer than this course, which is only 6.3km, Brown is still strong on the shorter length course. She's also the Australian national time trial champion. Brand will also retire from the pro peloton at the end of this season, so what better way to finish her final year with a Tour de France Femmes stage win alongside an Olympic gold medal. The Olympic champion did suffer a crash on stage two and, therefore, her performance may be impacted.
Anna Henderson (Visma-Lease a Bike) will also be confident in her time trialling abilities having placed second at the Olympic games. She is also the British national time trial champion and has produced good results in the race against the clock, so will be a real contender for this stage. A Dutch rider who is strong in the individual time trial is Demi Vollering. Her main ambitions are on defending her Tour de France Femmes title but could use this ITT as a way to gain some time on her general classification riders. Dutch national time trial champion Riejanne Markus (Visma-Lease a Bike) will also be a rider looking to take the stage win here.
Juliette Labous (Team dsm-fermenich PostNL) is another of the GC candidates who will be hoping to perform well over this short TT. She was fourth in Paris two weeks ago, demonstrating her strength in this skill. She'll also be motivated by the fact that no French rider has won a stage at the Tour de France Femmes over the past two editions and will want to give her nation a reason to cheer.
Olympic road race winner Kristen Faulkner (EF-Oatly-Cannondale) will also be one to watch. With a background on the track, she'll have experience of managing her efforts on a day like today and will also boast the power over this shorter distance. The same could be said for her fellow American, Lily Williams (Human Powered Health). Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), too, could excel on a course like this.
Individual time trial world champion Chloe Dygert (Canyon//SRAM) also has a strong chance of winning this stage. She is one of the best in the peloton, proven by her bronze Olympic medal, and will want to reaffirm her strength in the time trial with a stage win in this race. Another strong time trialist who could celebrate victory in Rotterdam is Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) or Amber Kraak (FDJ-Suez), both of whom will want to bag a stage win if the opportunity prevails.
Stage three winner prediction
We think Chloe Dygert will take the stage win.
