09.09.2022 Continental, News, Race news

ANTONIA WINS IN ARDECHE!

Antonia Niedermaier claimed an incredible victory on stage four of Tour de l’Ardéche today in Sarras, France, moving into the overall lead, the youth classification lead and winning the Most Combative rider.

The young 19-year-old attacked at the bottom of the first and longest climb of the day. After a group of chasers tried to bridge across but could not reach Antonia, the CANYON//SRAM Generation rider went to the finish line with an astonishing 80km-long solo breakaway.

A group of GC riders formed behind but was reduced from 14 riders to just 7 as they tried to catch Antonia. The chasers came within 1 minute, but between the group’s stop-start rhythm and attacking each other and Antonia’s strong pace, she could maintain the advantage to the finish line.

“For most of the stage, I felt good, but it started to become hard in the last 7km. I just always tried not to look back! I told myself, ‘keep going, Antonia; you can make it if your mind is strong enough.’ Even if they caught me, at least I would know I had tried,” explained Antonia.

“With 3km to go, that was the point I realised that I was going to make it! It feels pretty good to win the stage, especially because I think that none of the others expected that! So I could finally show what I can do.”

Antonia won the stage with +1:11 and now leads the general classification by 37 seconds and the youth classification by 1:06 minutes.

“It is unbelievable. I am feeling confused about that! Now that the spotlight is on me, I have a lot of respect for this situation. Tomorrow, we just have to look that we are always in a good position and should not rest on this victory because the other riders are not sleeping! We have three more stages to go, and we should give our best in every stage! Tomorrow will especially be hard, and we have to focus on the race again,” added Antonia.