A week of impressive riding in France from the entire team
Niamh Fisher-Black rounded off a superb week at the Faun Tour Femmes with second place overall on GC and third on today’s final stage. The result capped a consistently strong performance from the New Zealander, who proved herself as the strongest climber in the race and leaves France with the Queen of the Mountains classification.
The final day was another demonstration of her ambition and climbing strength. Fisher-Black attacked hard on the final, decisive climb of the day, forcing the race apart and distancing everyone around her. When she was caught by the FDJ-SUEZ duo of Juliette Berthet and Lauren Dickson, she found herself outnumbered but still kept fighting.
Photo by Billy Ceusters/Getty Images
Dickson launched her decisive attack in the closing kilometres and went on to take the stage victory, while Juliette Berthet secured the overall title. Fisher-Black, however, battled all the way to the line, taking a well-deserved third place.
Behind her, the strength of Lidl-Trek was clear. The team worked exceptionally well all week to keep Fisher-Black protected, positioned and supported in the decisive moments, with Gaia Realini playing a particularly important role. Realini was sixth on the final stage and finished inside the overall top-10, underlining the depth and commitment of the squad.
Fisher-Black can be proud of the way she raced all week, consistently at the front when it mattered, attacking with conviction and showing the strength to challenge for victory. While the final result did not quite deliver the overall win, it was a spirited fight to be satisfied with.
Photo by Billy Ceusters/Getty Images
In Niamh's words
Obviously happy with the last days with the team, we raced really well with the mindset of racing hard every day and going for a stage win. It’s always a bit disappointing that we didn’t quite achieve that goal and coming so close on GC but I think we can take something away from how the team raced together as a few girls made some really big steps which was nice to see. Also it gives confidence to the team when we take the reins of the race like that so we can be proud of how we approached it.
We really tried today to get those last seconds for GC but when you are outnumbered in a final like that it is really difficult. FDJ had the numbers there so that’s racing. Otherwise we can be proud of how we raced and take the bittersweet feelings for motivation for the next ones.
