Évita Muzic's dream of winning atop Alpe d'Huez became increasingly difficult to attain when race officials enforced a barrage after she took a nature break just ahead of the penultimate climb at Col du Glandon on the final stage 8 at the Tour de France Femmes.
Despite the setback, the FDJ-SUEZ rider finished third atop Alpe d'Huez and just off the podium in the general classification, leaving the 25 year old as the top French rider in the overall classification.
"I am disappointed not to finish on the podium, but the three girls in front of me were just better than me," said Muzic of her position in the final GC standings.
Muzic finished the eight-stage race in fourth behind the overall winner Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), runner-up Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) and third-placed Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck).
The FDJ-SUEZ rider revealed to the media that after the barrage – which stops team cars from moving to the back of the group to avoid them being used to help dropped riders rejoin – she was forced to chase for nearly 20km to get back to the peloton before the first HC ascent at 98.5km into the 149.9km race.
Once back in the field, she couldn't respond to the attacks of Vollering and Rooijakkers on its steep slopes, but she had enough energy to form part of the chase group.
Also in the initial chase were Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), Gaia Realini and Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek), Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT) and Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal).
"I was not at my best on the Glandon. I stopped to pee, and the commissaries blocked me from coming back to the peloton. I was disappointed for this," Muzic said.
"Luckily, I had Grace [Brown] with me. It was 20km full gas to come back in the bunch, and it cost me energy on the Glandon. I missed Demi and Pauliena in the front. But I felt better for Alpe d'Huez."
The chase group was reduced to just three as Muzic, Niewiadoma, and Realini set a fast pace up the 21 hairpin turns, trying to reduce the gap to the two leaders, which had dropped to 35 seconds mid-climb, but otherwise hovered at one minute.
"In one moment, I was thinking about the stage victory because we were coming back a little bit, and I wanted to move up on the GC. My team did great work all week, and although it is not a podium, fourth on GC is the best I could do," Muzic said.
FDJ-SUEZ had one of the strongest squads during the eight stages, always present at the front in the flatter days during the Grand Départ in the Netherlands and in the final two mountain stages this weekend.
"I lost too much time in the first part of the week. Maybe, for me, it would be better if we had more mountain stages at the Tour de France. I trained a lot on the threshold on the long climbs. It was the first time in my life that I think it paid off," Muzic said.
"But maybe I was missing a bit of punch for the stage in Liège that was needed for the GC in the end, but we need to think about this for next year."
Muzic said that although she didn't win on Alpe d'Huez, she is pleased with her performance and the final result at the Tour de France Femmes.
"The atmosphere was amazing on Alpe d'Huez. I dreamed of the victory and was close to coming back. In the end, I did my all."
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