Forty-one-year-old Mavi Garcia delivered a phenomenal stage victory for Liv AlUla Jayco at the Tour de France Femmes on day two, in what turned out to be a nail-biting finale, with the Spaniard fighting all the way to the line.
The rider from Mallorca made a perfectly timed attack with 11 kilometres remaining, countering a breakaway that had been reeled in and included teammate Silke Smulders.
Garcia used her wealth of experience to select the right moment to attack, following a lull in the group, and rapidly opened up a 20-second advantage.
However the tension was on as the peloton kept the Liv AlUla Jayco rider always within sight. With five kilometres to go it looked like her hopes for a stage win were over.
Pushing on with everything she had, the final kilometre played to the Liv AlUla Jayco rider’s strength with an uphill rise to the line.
Behind, the peloton opened up and Garcia hovered just three seconds ahead. In the end, it proved to be enough as she clinched the victory the slimmest of margins.
The win makes it Liv AlUla Jayco’s first victory at the iconic French tour.
Mavi Garcia – stage 2 winner
“I have a lot of emotions, I cannot believe it. I try a lot of times and I never arrive to the finish and today I didn’t believe in myself. It is really nice for me this victory, I really needed it.
Only when I passed the line I believed I could win. I just pushed and focused on the finish line and when I saw four kilometres to go, I thought ‘ok, it is so long, four kilometres is not easy’. But then every kilometre passed by fast and the last kilometre I though I just have to go all out and we will see.”
Le Tour de France Femmes – stage 2 results:
1. Mavi Garcia (Liv AlUla Jayco)
2. Lorena Wiebes +0:03
3. Kim le Cort Pienaar +0:03
Photo: Sprint Cycling
