Leah Kirchmann of Winnipeg, Manitoba won the silver medal at the prestigious cycling competition called La Course by Le Tour de France in Pau, France on Friday. It was Kirchmann’s fourth career individual cycling medal on the UCI Women’s World Tour and second medal at La Course by Le Tour de France, as she won the bronze medal there in 2014.
On Friday in Pau, Kirchmann had a second place time of three hours, 15 minutes and 23 seconds. Marianne Vos of the Netherlands, won the gold medal with a time of three hours, 15 minutes and 20 seconds. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig of Denmark won the bronze medal with a time of three hours, 15 minutes and 23 seconds. Kirchmann reached the podium by one second over Lucinda Brand of the Netherlands, who was in fourth place with a time of three hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds.
Prior to Friday, all of Kirchmann’s UCI Women’s World Tour medals were bronze. She placed third at the Tour of Chongming Island in China on May 8, 2016, third at the RideLondon Classique in Great Britain on July 30, 2016 and third at the Crescent Vargarda in Sweden on August 13, 2017. The UCI Women’s World Tour for cycling was created in 2016. The silver medal for Kirchmann in Pau, will give her confidence as she prepares for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Interestingly, Vos also won the La Course by Le Tour de France in 2014 when Kirchmann won bronze. The competition has been dominated by Dutch cyclists as Anna van der Breggen of the Netherlands won in 2015 and Annemiek van Vleuten won in 2017 and 2018. The Pau course used by the women this past Friday, was also used by the men for the 13th stage of the 2019 Tour de France which was won by Julian Alaphilippe of France in an individual time trial. Alaphilippe currently leads Geraint Thomas of Great Britain by one minute and 35 seconds after 15 stages of the Tour de France.
