Michael Woods won the queen stage of Route d’Occitanie, a challenging mountain top finish set to dictate the final outcome of the French stage race.
“I’m really pleased with the result today”, Woods said after the line. “The teamwork was exceptional. Especially Stevie Williams was just amazing. I think he went extra deep for his friend Gino Mäder and it was really inspirational. The whole team rode incredibly well. I’m really proud to finish it off for the guys and to take the leader’s jersey.”
Woods put in several attacks on the final climb and ultimately, only Cristian Rodriguez (Arkea-Samsic) was able to follow the Canadian. The duo stayed together until the final few hundred meters when Woods put in a final acceleration, leaving Rodriguez behind, while storming to victory on the top of Nistos Cap Nestes.
“This has already been a great race for me. It’s a nice step in the right direction and I’m really excited for the Tour now.”
In the general classification, Woods leads by 10 seconds Rodriguez and is 41 seconds ahead of Georg Steinhauser.
Michael Woods ha respondido a su favoritismo en la 3r etapa #RDO2023
Christian Rodríguez, 2°, en la forma de su vida. Vaya semanitas lleva.
Jesús Herrada, 3° pic.twitter.com/fHxR4fEbWA— David Gómez Hidalgo (@davidesportista) June 17, 2023
