Aussie Focus

Manly sprints with the best for top 10 finish on Stage 3

Australian Alex Manly (Jayco-Alula) showed good legs to finish sixth in the bunch sprint finish to Stage 3 of the Tour de France Femmes, finishing only behind five of the best fast women in the world.

2nd Tour de France Femmes 2023 - Stage 3

MONTIGNAC-LASCAUX, FRANCE - JULY 25: (L-R) Elisa Balsamo of Italy and Team Lidl - Trek and Alexandra Manly of Australia and Team Jayco AlUla cross the finish line during the 2nd Tour de France Femmes 2023, Stage 3 a 147.2km stage from Collonges-la-Rouge to Montignac-Lascaux / #UCIWWT / on July 25, 2023 in Montignac-Lascaux, France. (Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images) Source: Getty / Tim de Waele/Getty Images

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Team Jayco-Alula struggled to stay towards the front of a peloton setting a blistering pace in pursuit of lone leader Julie Van de Velde (Fenix-Deceuninck) as the Stage moved into the last 3 kilometres, trying to move up along the side but having difficulty due to the narrow roads.

But Manly managed to get herself in great position in third wheel of the Lidl-Trek train as they took the front inside the last kilometre, pushing hard to round the corner into the finishing straight as the sprinters prepared to launch.
She was behind Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) when the Belgian opened up her leadout for teammate Lorena Wiebes and unfortunately Manly wasn't able to find a lane to come around the SD Worx pair, Wiebes winning with a powerful kick to the line.

It was a promising performance from the Australian though, losing out only to premier names in women's cycling such as Wiebes, regarded as the world's best sprinter, Kopecky (3rd), Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma, 2nd) and former World Champion Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek, 5th).

"Today was quite controlled throughout the stage," Manly said after the stage in a statement from Jayco-Alula on social media.
"It was just a bit hard because of how narrow the roads were, and also it was a bit up and down all day.

"The girls did really well, and it came down to a sprint in the end. I think it was a pretty good sprint from me up against those girls, so I'm fairly happy."

With two more flat stages suiting the sprinters still to come, Manly will have more opportunities to go toe-to-toe with the race's heavy hitters and try to secure a win, or podium for her and the team to be proud of.

Stage 4:

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2 min read
Published 26 July 2023 4:27am
Updated 26 July 2023 12:45pm
By SBS Sport
Source: SBS


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