Reusser wins women’s Tour de France fourth stage, Vos retains lead

BAR-SUR-AUBE, France: Swiss rider Marlen Reusser won the women’s Tour de France fourth stage on Wednesday as Dutchwoman Marianne Vos retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey in fifth place.

Team SD Worx’s Reusser, 30, broke away with 15km left after four gravel sections in the Champagne wine region with Evita Muzic in second place and Belarusian Alena Amialiusik in third.

“I think here in this Tour every day is hard, at least for me,” former doctor Reusser told Eurosport.

“This stage suited the kind of rider I am with these gravel sections.

“The team had a plan to do a hard race and not let it come down to an easy finale. We just said attack and one would go. I was lucky it was me,” she added.

The 35-year-old Vos, who took over the yellow jersey with victory in stage two on Monday keeps a 16sec advantage over her closest rivals in Italian Silvia Persico and Pole Katarzyna Niewiadoma.

Spanish veteran Mavi Garcia lost more than 1min 30sec in the general standings after issues on the uneven surface which included crashing with a team car as riders suffered numerous punctures but Vos and her fellow Jumbo-Visma riders survived unscathed.

“We spent a lot of energy to stay in front and you had to really fight for a position before the gravel sections and the climbs as well,” Vos told reporters.

“We weren’t very concerned, we had to stay in front and stay out of trouble. We did, so I’m happy about that,” she added.

This is the longest edition of the women’s Tour, after Amaury Sports Organization, who run the men’s race, started with a one-stage event in 2014.

During the dust-filled gravel sections, which passed through the world-renowned vineyards in eastern France, the likes of Tuesday’s stage winner Cecilie