Dutch cyclist Demi Vollering wins maiden women’s Tour de France title

Meanwhile,  her teammate Marlen Reusser of Switzerland clinched the final-stage time trial.

Although the 26-year-old Vollering was already in a strong position after a dominant win in Saturday’s penultimate stage up to Tourmalet in the Pyrenees, she still had enough energy left to finish 10 seconds behind Reusser in the time trial held in the southwestern city of Pau.

Team SD Worx completed a stage treble with Lotte Kopecky of Belgium finishing in third place. Kopecky was 38 seconds behind Reusser, who covered the 22.6 kilometres in 29 minutes, 15 seconds.

Kopecky’s performance also moved her up two spots to second place overall in the general classification, a total of 3 minutes, 3 seconds behind Vollering, with Katarzyna Niewiadoma of Poland dropping to third overall.

According to the tournament organisers, Niewiadoma was also 3:03 behind Vollering but Kopecky edged her out in the standings because of time splits recorded in the time trial.

The 40-year-old Dutchwoman Annemiek van Vleuten, last year’s Tour winner, was fourth this year, finishing 3:59 behind Vollering.

Niewiadoma won the best climber’s polka-dot jersey while Kopecky collected the green jersey for best sprinter.