‘It’s so steep!’ – Camera motorbike topples over as Annemiek van Vleuten rides to Tour de France Femmes glory

A camera motorbike toppled over as it tried to track Annemiek van Vleuten’s progress up the brutal Super Planche des Belles Filles climb at the Tour de France Femmes on Sunday.

But such was the iconic ramp’s steepness, topping out at 24%, it started to grind to a halt before rolling backwards near the summit and awkwardly falling to eject its driver and camera operator.

Eurosport expert Adam Blythe said it illustrated how tough the climb was.

“I thought at one point she [Van Vleuten] was going to pull a wheelie and topple over the back. It’s so steep,” said Blythe on The Breakaway.

“You’re coming into it [the final ramp] at a slow pace anyway. Even for Annemiek to make it look hard shows just how tough it was.

“We saw the other riders coming up to the line, all broken. The officials at the top pushing them across the line.”

Van Vleuten battled illness and mechanical issues to win the first edition of the Tour de France Femmes.

Eurosport’s Dani Rowe, star of the London 2012 Olympics in the velodrome, said it was the “performance of a lifetime”.

“She’s been waiting for this moment,” said Rowe.

“It’s just so fitting for her to win in that yellow jersey – inspiring the next generation of girls that are going to come through. It’s just incredible.

“And I don’t think we would have wanted to see anyone else win. Especially as she had a tummy bug four days ago, and she couldn’t eat for two days. [Yet] she still pulled out that performance of a lifetime.”

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