Marlen Reusser took control of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift with a commanding stage 4 time trial victory Tuesday.
The Movistar rider stopped the clock in 27:30 over the 21km course, averaging 45.793kph. The ride moved the reigning world time trial champion into the yellow jersey on a day that reshaped the general classification.
Reusser had targeted the stage from the start of the season and delivered under pressure. She said she was very happy and had given everything to win. She also described the day as Movistar’s “Project Dijon” to claim yellow.
Her winning margin proved smaller than expected. Dutch national champion Lieke Nooijen of Visma-Lease a Bike finished just four seconds slower, giving Reusser a serious scare.
Marlen Reusser leads after a decisive time trial
The 21km test in Burgundy always looked likely to split the overall contenders. It included one moderate climb and rewarded sustained power rather than pure climbing.
Demi Vollering produced the strongest performance among the main yellow jersey favorites. She finished 18 seconds behind Reusser and strengthened her position in second overall.
Behind Reusser and Vollering, the gaps started to open toward one minute for several leading contenders. That created the first clear separation between the top overall threats.
Kristen Faulkner also impressed for EF Education-Oatly. The double Olympic champion placed sixth on the stage, 53 seconds behind Reusser.
Faulkner’s teammate Cédrine Kerbaol benefited from the reshuffle and climbed to third overall. The result gives EF Education-Oatly two prominent positions near the front of the race.
Overnight leader Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset could not defend her advantage after Monday’s record-distance solo breakaway. The Uno-X Mobility rider finished 65th on the stage.
Haugset had started the day with a lead of more than two minutes. That cushion disappeared in the time trial, and she slipped to fourth overall.
Ferrand-Prévot loses more than two minutes
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot endured the most damaging day among the headline contenders. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider lost 2:13 to Reusser.
Ferrand-Prévot was racing her first major individual time trial since returning to road racing. The power course exposed that challenge and left her with significant time to recover.
She won last year’s Tour on a route without an individual time trial. Now she will need a major response in the mountains to return to yellow jersey contention.
Other climbers also conceded time, though several key names finished relatively close to one another. Kasia Niewiadoma of Canyon-Sram lost 1:08 on the day.
Niewiadoma now sits sixth overall, 1:09 behind Reusser. Anna van der Breggen is eighth overall at 1:17 after a day that may have brought more losses than hoped.
The intra-team comparison at UAE L’IMAD also tightened. Paula Blasi and Elisa Longo-Borghini finished just one second apart in their stage 4 efforts.
The Tour continues Wednesday with a demanding 140km fifth stage from Mâcon to Belleville-en-Beaujolais. The profile includes eight categorized climbs.
The toughest named obstacle is the Cat. 2 Mont Brouilly, measuring 2.9km at 7.6 percent. It comes with just over 100km remaining.
That terrain should challenge the pure sprinters and invite attacks from stage-hunters. It also offers Ferrand-Prévot and other climbers an immediate chance to strike back.
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