Tour de France Femmes: Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig wins third stage

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig is chased home by Dutch rider Vos, who currently holds the yellow jersey

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig won the third stage of the inaugural Tour de France Femmes while Marianne Vos finished second and retained the yellow jersey.

Denmark’s Ludwig, 26, finished two seconds ahead of the Dutch rider.

Ludwig managed to pull away from a six-strong breakaway coming into the finish line after the 133.6km ride from Reims to Eperney.

“I just kept fighting – this is for my team, they kept believing in me,” said Ludwig.

“It feels like such a good comeback – I just love how the team kept the fighting spirit.

“If I had the legs, I could try and do the win – but to actually do it and be a Tour de France stage winner, in this jersey [the Danish national jersey] – it doesn’t get better. What a victory man,” Ludwig added.

FDJ Suez Futuroscope had a nightmare stage two after Ludwig’s team-mate Marta Cavalli, one of the favourites for the title, abandoned the race on Monday after being involved in a crash.

After the peloton faced their first real climbs of the Tour, with stages one and two being relatively flat, Team Jumbo-Visma’s Vos crossed the line in second just ahead of South African Ashleigh Moolman, Italy’s Silvia Persico and Elisa Lono Borghini and Poland’s Katarzyna Niewiakoma.

Vos, who had taken the yellow jersey on Monday from compatriot Lorena Wiebes, still leads the general standings by 16 seconds, ahead of Persico and Niewiadoma.

Wednesday’s stage four is another hilly ride, with riders travelling 126.8km from Troyes to Bar-sur-Aube.