Greig Leach

Today was marked by a very large break away containing 14 women. That size can mean there are som passengers not willing to do the work to help everyone to stay off the front of the stage. As this leading group neared the top of the hardest climb thus far in the Tour de France Femmes, the Cote de Grednlbuch, Joscelin Lowden (Uno-X) went on the attack. While she was also in search of the Queen of the Mountain points, her move was designed to get rid of the "dead weight" in the break. Her move was initially marked by Marie Le Net (FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope), like Kathrin Hammes (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) she dropped away from the attack as they neared the top of the climb. With this effort and those of the day, she moved herself into second place in the race for the Maillot a Pois. The next two days will be the chances to rack up big points in that competition. However, this effort only rid the group of one rider.