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Spanish star Paula Blasi saved her best performance of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift to last, sprinting to second in Nice on stage 9.
She moved up to fifth overall, although she was unable to unseat Antonia Niedermaier in the white jersey.
It was a red-letter day for Team UAE L’IMAD as her captain Elisa Longo Borghini moved to third in the race’s last hours, despite a dramatic late puncture in the final kilometer while setting her up for the sprint.
Eleven years her junior, the Vuelta a España Femenina champion could be the sport’s future. She spent four days in the white jersey of best young rider and learned a ton in her first Tour de France.
“Overall, I was coming here for the experience as I said in the beginning,” she told Velo‘s Julia Dowd and Andy McGrath at the start of stage 9 in Nice Sunday.
“I cannot compare myself now to nine days ago because I think I’ve grown a lot, on and off the bike.”
“This for sure will help me to race the next Tour de France,” she added.
Power of the mind, not just the legs
Blasi says what she learned most about herself was her “need to sometimes take it easier because I’m a really emotional person, so my emotions can go on the bike.”
“And when you have a one-hour climb, it’s not only the legs but the head. Just taking a bit more care of my mental health, I would say.”
Being in the correct position before climbs has also been a big lesson for Blasi on a Tour of ups and downs, as she told AS.
“I would say it was a mix of highs and lows, but this is like life, no? I had better days, worse days, good legs some days, bad days on others,” she said to Velo.
Stress from UAE leadership talk
Then there was the early Tour de France Femmes narrative of #FreeBlasi around UAE L’IMAD’s two-pronged leadership strategy, focused around Elisa Longo Borghini and Dominika Włodarczyk.
It appeared there would be no opportunity for the Spaniard to chase stage wins or her own goals.
Did the media questions about their strategy hurt or affect her?
“Yeah, they make you think a bit and sometimes you get a bit more stressed,” she said. “But again, with the team we were always so clear about that we tried to answer as good as possible and took it easy.”
It is easy to overlook the fact that Blasi was, in her own words, “not supposed to be at the Tour”.
According to the 23-year-old, it had been planned since January for climber Pauliena Rooijakkers to be in the line-up, but a “last-minute change” saw Blasi promoted.
Longo Borghini on hurtful media speculation
Having displaced Marlen Reusser (Movistar) in the race’s final hours, podium finisher Elisa Longo Borghini had something to say about their tactics in her post-race press conference.
“I think we showed that we raced well and smart,” the Italian champion said. “It was questionable for sure having three leaders, and I understand the journalists: they have to do their job.”
“And I respect that. But sometimes there is too much speculation and it hurts the people.
“Because behind an athlete there is a person, a girl, a woman, and we do suffer a little bit sometimes when we read some silly stuff, let’s say. And sometimes I just think we should think twice before writing down things.”
On Tour podium after years of pain
“We showed we could work very well today,” she said.
“In the end, Paula was working for me – and I was working for her until I punctured before the sprint because she’s super fast, and I wanted to give her a chance to be second in a stage in the Tour de France. We went all in, and we showed we were strong.”
Longo Borghini did not finish her 2025 or 2023 Tours due to illness. She called third place one of the proudest moments of her career after “rolling the dice”, working to drop Marlen Reusser (Movistar).
“In the end, fourth or 10th does not change anything for me,” she said.
Typical Longo Borghini, fiery and determined to the last. She has gone from “being pissed” at Tour bad luck to satisfaction at this race.
With Domina Wlodarczyk finishing seventh, Team UAE L’IMAD emphatically won the race’s team classification.
As their sports director Cherie Pridham said at regular points during the race, it looks like “the road did the talking”.
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