Anna Henderson admits she was ‘not in control’ during nerve-shredding descent at Tour de France Femmes

Anna Henderson (Jumbo-Visma) confessed she was not always in control during her incredible nerve-shredding descent on Stage 6 at the Tour de France Femmes.

Henderson lit up the day’s breakaway with a brilliant downhill attack 24km from the finish that not even famed descender Christine Majerus (SD Worx) could live with.

“These two riders are among the best descenders in the world so we can safely say don’t try this at home, kids! These are the experts in the bunch,” said Dani Christmas on Eurosport commentary.

As the race approached the final categorised climb, Henderson had whittled down the front group to just three with only Marie Le Net (FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope) and Joss Lowden (Uno X Pro Cycling) hanging on.

When quizzed about her expert descending skills, Henderson admitted that it was not entirely intentional.

“We had done the recon of this course and from what I remembered it was quite an open descent…and then I went round a corner and I thought ‘I’m not actually in control here’,” she revealed to Eurosport.

“So I don’t know whether it was skill or luck that I didn’t crash.”

Speaking before Henderson’s confession, Dani Rowe said: “What a descender, she’s phenomenal. I would not want to be trying to follow her down a descent, that’s for sure.

“Former downhill skier, she knows which lines to take, and putting Christine Majerus under pressure, another one of the world’s best descenders, was so good to see.”

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