Joséphine Oudébaya

Joséphine Oudébaya is a Burkinabé cyclist competing in Season 4 of the VeloTour for Nautalia. During Season 4, she became the first female rider to win a VeloTour classic by winning Eschborn-Frankfurt from a solo attack. She also won a stage of the Season 4 Giro d'Italia.

## Biography

Joséphine has always been driven by a sense of justice. Her great-grandfather was killed while protecting Thomas Sankara in the 1987 coup, and she’s devoted her life to forging the nation that Sankara envisioned. After protesting the American-supported military dictatorship, Joséphine fled to Ivory Coast on her bicycle to survive a brutal crackdown. She joined a cycling club in Abidjan to continue her revolutionary efforts, and soon blossomed into a prolific racer due to her height and strength. Joséphine won the African men’s road championship from an audacious breakaway, earning her invite to the VeloTour. Now she looks to further her cause on the biggest stage.

## Season 4 Summary

Oudébaya was selected in the first round of the Season 4 Draft by Nautalia, with team manager Will impressed by her strength and versatility.

In the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad classic, Oudébaya was instrumental in splitting the peloton during a crosswind section early in the course, dropping nearly all of the Kyoto and Hackett riders 150 kilometers from the finish. Despite not being a cobblestone specialist, she finished 8th after attacking a chase group in the final kilometers. She earned a second top-10 finish in Strade Bianche one week later, finishing 9th.

Despite her strong start, Oudébaya worked as a domestique for team leaders Kelvin Moore and Rodolfo Lucci during the hilly classics and Critérium du Dauphiné. She scored 0 VeloTour points between the Amstel Gold Race and Paris-Roubaix.

Her breakthrough occured during the Giro d'Italia, starting with a 2nd place finish on the uphill sprint of Stage 5 while leading out Rodolfo Lucci. On the mountainous Stage 8 she formed the early breakaway and attacked on all three mountain climbs, winning the KOM sprints and dropping her breakaway companions. After attacking Diana Steffensen at the base of the final climb, Oudébaya soloed to victory atop the Montecopiolo. In addition to winning the stage, she also took the *maglia rosa* as leader of the general classification and the *maglia azzuri* as leader of the mountains classification. She lost her GC lead on the mountaintop finish of Stage 9, yet remained in the top 10 of the GC and the leader of the mountains classification for several stages. Other highlights included finishing 6th on the Stage 15 summit finish to Plan di Montecampione against the Giro's top climbers and a strong time trial performance on Stage 12. Oudébaya finished the Giro d'Italia 18th in the general classification and 5th in the mountains classification.

Oudébaya resumed her role as a domestique following the Giro d'Italia as Nautalia attempted to win the flat classics with Blaise Robillard. She was given a free role for the Eschborn-Frankfurt classic and launched a solo attack on the final circuit with less than 20 km to the finish. Her first attack was brought back, but she tried a second attack 3 km from the finish. This turned out to be the winning move as the peloton stalled, and Oudébaya took victory ahead of the fancied sprinters by 8 seconds.

### Season 4 Results

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

* 8th

Strade Bianche

* 9th

Giro d'Italia

* 1st, Stage 8
* 18th place overall
* Led General Classification for 1 stage
* Led Mountains Classification for 8 stages

Eschborn-Frankfurt

* 1st

## Major Wins

Season 4:

* Stage 8, Giro d'Italia
* Eschborn-Frankfurt

## Trivia

* The 11th pick in the Season 4 Draft.
* The first female rider to lead a VeloTour stage race.
* The first female rider to win a VeloTour classic.
* Her favorite beverages are hot chocolate and the tears of the bourgeoisie.

## See Also

* Riders
* VeloTour Wiki