[Few stage winners have been as emotional and uplifting as Cecilie Uttrup-Ludwig, who won stage 3 of the Tour de France.

The Dane's victory came after a disastrous second stage in which Uttrup-Ludwig and three teammates crashed and Marta Cavalli left the race injured.

"In the last kilometer, toward the finish, I thought, "Okay, let's fight for a stage win in the Tour de France."

"I was thinking about them. For you, for Marta, ......." I wanted to say, "I'm back on my feet, baby."

Uttrup Ludwig professed how tough the previous day had been for the team, describing it as "gloomy, sad, and shitty," but attributed today's win to the determination and mentality of her FDJ-SUEZ Futroscope team.

"I think what was pretty special about this team was that we thought, 'The Tour is not over yet, we have to keep fighting. ' We never give up. And I think we did that today."

[9

The tears began almost as soon as the 26-year-old crossed the finish line, and she described an emotional scene for her teammates.

"When I got to the podium, these girls were standing in front of me and I was just crying, crying, crying. It was special and I'm going to celebrate tonight, I promise."

[15

Winning in Epernay is certainly the culmination of a difficult season for Uttrup Ludwig, who missed the Classic and most of the Ardennes for COVID-19. After competing in the Giro Donne with Cavalli's support, the Tour was his first race back as leader.

Even during the stages, the eventual winner had a difficult day. She explained that she had to fight to regain the lead after falling in the last mountain category and that even in the last kilometer of the stage she doubted her chances of winning.

"I felt like I was in a pretty good position under flamme rouge, on the wheels of Marianne [Bos], but then I turned right and left and lost my position. And I was like, "Damn," I mean, "Oh no, oh no, oh no." And Kasia [Nienyadoma] was already attacking at the bottom."

"But I kept fighting. I was like, 'I can come back! I think I can come back! At least I can get on the podium. And I just kept working hard.

"To keep my motivation high, I had to keep fighting with my team. I don't think I'll ever forget that.

Uttrup-Ludwig, who lost time on stage 2, moved up 41 places in the overall standings to 10th with a win from the GC group that went all the way to the finish, but remains balanced about his chances in the remaining races.

"Of course, I came here with GC ambitions," Ludwig said. 'I want to take it one day at a time. Like I said, the Tour is not over yet. Tomorrow we have a pretty hard gravel stage and two mountain stages.