DIXON DELIVERS QUEEN STAGE PODIUM IN THE PYRENEES

Emily Dixon produced a sensational ride to claim third place on the queen stage of Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées, conquering none other than the mighty Col du Tourmalet along the way.

The 19-year-old Australian and 2024 Zwift Academy winner was understandably delighted with the result after one of the biggest rides in her young career.

“I’m super proud of the result that we could get today, and I’m so happy to have been able to pull this off for the team. We’ve never really had mountain passes like the Tourmalet in our races before, so it was super cool to properly test the climbing legs and see where I could end up. I’m really satisfied with the outcome.”

Rising for 18.3km to more than 2100m above sea level, the climb most synonymous with cycling in the Pyrenees stood as the key challenge of the three-day race. Emily met it head-on, delivering a ride of impressive strength and composure despite five weeks away from racing after a bout of illness.

She crested the mythical summit in third position alongside Włodarczyk (UAD), but with little time to savour the monumental mountain scenes. Out front, 2026 La Vuelta Femenina winner Blasi (UAD) had stormed clear in a class of her own.

With just 2km remaining, the gap to lone leader Blasi was 1:46 – almost identical to the advantage she had established atop the Tourmalet – leaving Emily and her companions to battle for the two remaining podium places.

It was cagey in the final kilometres, with attacks from the experienced Berthet (TFS), and youth classification rival Comte (COF), but Emily positioned herself smartly throughout. She latched onto Włodarczyk’s wheel coming into the final bend with 300m remaining and barely sat back down, launching a long sprint to secure third place.

Emily recounted the short but very sharp 94km stage from her perspective:

“The stage started off super fast and technical, on a descent and through many towns. There was quite a fight to establish a breakaway, but it was great to see Weronika get away; it helped because we didn’t need to worry about chasing. Jule and Joëlle set me up so well coming into the climb, and then it was all up to my legs to do the work on the climb. I surprised myself because I found that I still had more to give when other riders were dropping. I worked a fair bit at the front to keep the pace high, and to not lose too much on Blasi. And then, it was just fast and techy over the top, and I just pushed as hard as I could until the finish.”

For the 19-year-old, it marks a hugely exciting result in just her second UCI 2.Pro-classified race, and a significant leap upwards from 39th place on last year’s queen stage at the Tour des Pyrénées.

She goes into tomorrow’s third and final stage sitting sixth on the general classification (GC), 1:59 down on the dominant Blasi, but level on time with second. Emily is also tied on time with youth classification leader Comte (COF), meaning that there is still plenty to play for heading into Sunday’s punchy, attritional 114km finale.

The stage features a stinging 600m climb (13% avg) that crests just 3km from the finish – a perfect springboard for late attacks. Emily is open-minded going into the day:

“To be honest, I’m not sure what to expect tomorrow, other than a super hard, lumpy stage. I hope that we can make the front selections and be at the head of the race, and hopefully stay up there on GC. We’ve got lots of strong riders capable of pulling off a good result depending on how the stage is raced, so I’m really looking forward to it, and to seeing what we can pull off as a team!”

Meanwhile, six days after completing a gruelling Giro d’Italia Women, Chiara Consonni sprinted to fifth place at the second edition of the WorldTour one-day race, Copenhagen Sprint. Special praise goes to Zoe Bäckstedt, who delivered a heroic lead-out in the final 10km, holding firm as riders from other teams peeled away. Zoe kept Chiara perfectly positioned at the front of a stretched and pressured peloton, carrying a united CANYON//SRAM train deep into the final 2km.

Making it a three-race Saturday for the team, Wilma Aintila claimed silver in the Finnish National Time Trial Championships, finishing behind Ahtosalo (UXM) over a 22km course. She will be back in action tomorrow for the Elite Women’s road race.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Stage 3 | Sun, June 14 | Nay – Jurançon | 114.3km |  1738m elevation | 11:45 – 15:00 CET | Live 13:45

Watch every stage of Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées live on HBO Max and France 3 NOA.