July 25/23 19:56 pm - Tour de France Femmes: Stage 3

Posted by Editoress on 07/25/23
 

Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx) sused her speed to dominate the sprint at the end of third stage of the Tour de France Femmes. But a victory almost eluded the Dutch sprinter in Montignac-Lascaux. Escapee Julie Van de Velde (Fenix-Deceuninck) was caught with only 200 metres remaining. On the line, Wiebes got the best of Marianne Vos (Team Jumbo Visma), with Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx) rounding out the stage podium. Wiebes is the first rider to take three stage wins in the Tour de France Femmes (Vos and van Vleuten have 2), and the first to win both in 2022 and in 2023. Most combative rider of the day, Van de Velde will wear the polka-dot jersey as the new Queen of the mountains on stage 4, the longest stage of this edition, 177.1 km to go from Cahors to Rodez.

The uphill start inspired an early attack by Kathrin Hammes (EF Education-Tibco-SVB) who managed to get away, after 4 kilometres. The German rider opened a gap of 2:10. Meanwhile, the many attempts to counter-attack were neutralised by the bunch.

Hammes took the most QOM points atop the ascents of Côte du Peyroux (cat. 3), Côte de Pératel (cat. 4) and Côte de l’Escurotte (cat. 4). She racked up 7 points, but Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) took one point to defend her polka-dot jersey, with a tally of 8 points.

Van de Velde is the new Queen of the Mountains
The peloton accelerated and Hammes was caught with 83km to go. A flurry of attacks ensued, with Jumbo Visma’s Anna Henderson and Amber Kraak, Lidl Trek’s Lizzie Deignan and Lauretta Hanson, Canyon//SRAM’s Agnieszka Skalniak Sojka and Fenix-Deceuninck’s Julie Van de Velde among the most active riders. But Lotte Kopecky reacted in person to control the moves and SD Worx eventually restored order.

Onto the penultimate ascent of the day, Van de Velde attacked again. This time, she opened a gap of 45s atop the cat-4 Côte des Andrieux (km 89.4), and still lead by 25s atop the cat-4 Côte de Saint-Robert (km 92.2). With a total of 9 QoM points, she all but secures the polka-dot jersey at the end of the stage.

Van de Velde almost Resists Wiebes
Counter-attacks fail while Van de Velde keeps pushing - her gap is up to 2:30 into the last 30km of the stage. But Canyon//SRAM tried to split the bunch into the wind, and DSM-Firmenich up the ante as well with Lidl-Trek. The attacker’s lead is now down to 1:05 with 20km to go. And 25s as the riders enter the last 10km… But Van de Velde pushes her lead back up to 35s under the 5km-to-go arch.

The Belgian attacker was only caught with 200 metres to go. Sprinters charged past her, with Lotte Kopecky launching Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) to victory, ahead of Marianne Vos. Kopecky rounded out the podium herself, cementing her status as the leader of the race.

Simone Boilard (St Michel - Mavic - Auber93) was top Canadian on the stage in 22nd at 2s back. Olivia Baril (UAE Team ADQ) is top Canadian overall, 29th at 2:30 back.


Results from the third stage in France

Tour de France Femmes: Stage 1

Tour de France Femmes: Stage 2