Lorena Wiebes proved to be the fastest sprinter in the third stage of the Tour de France Femmes. The European champion outsprinted her compatriot Marianne Vos. Less good news came for Demi Vollering: the top favorite for the overall victory crashed hard near the finish.
After two tough opening days in Brittany, stage three offered the riders the first real chance for the sprinters. All the pressure was on SD Worx-Protime and top favorite Lorena Wiebes, despite their leader, world champion Lotte Kopecky, having a less impressive start to the Tour. Kim Le Court also caught attention at the start: it was the Mauritian rider’s first-ever day in the yellow jersey.
Four strong breakaway riders
There was quite a bit of interest in the early break in the first kilometres, with even Justine Ghekiere — last year’s polka-dot jersey winner racing for AG Insurance Soudal — briefly joining in. But after fifteen minutes of racing, Alison Jackson (EF Education-Oatly), Spanish champion Sara Martín (Movistar Team), Clémence Latimier (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Chilean Catalina Anais Soto (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) had found each other. The peloton clearly gave their approval.
Belgian Margot Vanpachtenbeke watched this unfold and tried to bridge across, but the VolkerWessels rider’s attempt resulted in a short-lived solo chase. Later, the German Franziska Brauße (Ceratizit) and French rider Alison Avoine (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93) also attempted a similar move but without success.
The four breakaway riders were given a four-minute gap by the peloton. We saw FDJ-SUEZ, SD Worx-Protime and Fenix-Deceuninck initially riding side-by-side near the front of the peloton, but it was only when Wiebes’s teammates really started the chase that the lead began to shrink. Meanwhile, the unfortunate Lotte Kopecky acted as a domestique.
The four leaders on the road - photo: Cor Vos
With 40 kilometers to go, the peloton came alive for the first time. The fast finishers then began showcasing themselves for the remaining 13 points available in the green jersey competition behind the four breakaway riders. European champion Wiebes already showed why she was the top favorite for the stage win. The Dutch rider comfortably outsprinted Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike).
Immediately afterwards, Demi Vollering (FDJ-SUEZ) tried to shake things up with a sharp attack, but in this flat stage, the climber quickly understood her move was futile. Since the lead of the four breakaway riders hovered around two to three minutes, the SD Worx-Protime riders had to get back to work quickly to reel them in on time.
Up front, the four got into a spat in the finale. First, Martín surprised the others with an attack, hoping to take the Combativity Award. Later, Soto went solo, but with just over five kilometres remaining, everything was back together.
Crash involving Vollering mars the finale
Just over three kilometres from the finish, the peloton was startled by a crash in a right-hand corner. Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) was seen standing nearby, but it soon became clear that Vollering was among the worst-affected. The top favorite for the overall win stayed down for a long time, visibly in pain. Her teammates ultimately had to push her to the finish line. Because the crash happened within the last five kilometres, there was no time loss for her. Physical damage, however, was significant.
Up front, only a small group remained to contest the stage win sprint. Lead-out rider Lotte Kopecky and sprinter Lorena Wiebes were well positioned, with Marianne Vos close behind. Vos pushed hard for a while, but the SD Worx-Protime leader took her much-coveted sprint victory.
Tour de France Femmes| Rank | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 03:41:47 | |
| 2 | " | |
| 3 | " | |
| 4 | " | |
| 5 | " | |
| 6 | " | |
| 7 | " | |
| 8 | " | |
| 9 | " | |
| 10 | " |
