In 1989, Greg LeMond became the first American cyclist to win the Tour de France. His winning margin? Eight seconds. But a winning margin is also a losing margin.
“You never stop grieving over an event like that,” wrote his vanquished opponent, Laurent Fignon, 21 years later. If eight seconds sounds brief, try four. LeMond’s victory remained the closest Tour de France history until August 18 2024, and the summit of Alpe d’Huez.
Vollering needed to close a gap of one minute and 15 seconds on Katarzyna Niewiadoma to retain the title she won in 2023. Advertisement Vollering is a star of women’s road cycling. She won the Tour de France Femmes in 2023, triumphed at this year’s Vuelta, another of the sport’s leading races, and is one of the first female road cyclists to be sponsored by Nike.
Having worked as a florist before turning professional, she could now open her own shop with the bouquets she’s received for winning races. But this year’s Tour de France would not be one of them. Vollering was indeed the first rider to the top of the Alpe to win the stage, but Niewiadoma — just — won the race’s general classification by four seconds and at the finish line, Vollering wept.
“Nothing was going in,” she tells The Athletic . “It’s like my brain was blocked. Everything faded, like people were walking around, but I was sitting in my own mind.
” But five weeks on, Vollering is back on her bike. She won the queen stage of the Tour of Romandie at the sta.