Greig Leach

FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope had managed to get three women into the elite group that had six minutes on the group with the Maillot Jaune, the Maillot a Pois, and the Maillot Blance. By this point, Grace Brown had dropped off of the sextet. Their team leader, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, had dropped back to the team car for a conversation and a couple of waterbottles. She then got herself back into the rotation and passed a bottle to Evita Muzic as she dropped back through the group. While they had six minutes on the leader of the race, they were just over six minutes behind the leader on the road. I doubt they can hope for stage honors, but they will move up on the general classification and still may vie for the podium of the stage.