Le Tour Femmes Dispatch: Stage 1

Images: Justin Britton

We’re back!

Though this is just the third edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, the established rhythm of the race following on immediately after the men’s Tour had become familiar and this year, the gap between the two – for the Olympic Games no less – has been a strange, and refreshing, alternative.

It’s tough to know which format is better – on the one hand, having the race continue the Tour momentum already created by the men’s race could be seen as a positive, keeping already invested audiences sticking around to ‘Watch the Femmes’, but on the other hand, after three long, draining weeks of the men’s Tour, it’s been nice to have a breather.

It’s been amazing to take in the multitude of other sporting action that’s been available to watch all day every day from Paris, and the promise of the Tour de France Femmes waiting at the end of it has taken the sting out of the post-Olympic blues, and should reinvigorate cycling fans once again. It feels like the race has more autonomy; a bit more breathing room to exist separately from the men’s race, and to carry us through the zenith of summer with feeling like the peak, rather than an afterthought. In any case, it’s a one-off as next year, we will revert to the original back-to-back format. But it’s food for thought.

We're pleased to bring you informative short videos from the experts at the Geology of Sport group, so before we launch into today's stage report, why not find out more about the location of today's start with Ela Sari.

Stage 1 in Review

Following the Olympics, it was not a long way for the many riders involved in the road racing to travel to be at the start line, even if the first half of the race does take place outside of France For others, who were also competing in the track events, it’s just days since they were tearing around a velodrome at full throttle – the likes of Maggie Coles-Lyster, Daria Pikulik, Kristen Faulkner and Lily Williams were all involved in track action, and though reigning road world champion Lotte Kopecky opts to sit this one out, there’s a real sense of a peloton who are already up to speed and ready to throw themselves in at the deep end, in the Netherlands, Belgium and France this week.

Stunning blue skies and hot temperatures made for a brilliant backdrop to the first roll-out of the week in Rotterdam, where the fans turned out in force, and the peloton turned out in… orange. Yes, after a men’s Tour where everyone was wearing blue, it’s not only Team Jayco-AlUla who opt for an orange special edition kit at this Tour de France Femmes, but Visma-Lease A Bike and Team SD Worx-ProTime too, both of whom unveiled Dutch-inspired orange kits prior to today’s stage start. A confusing of clashing orange tones was the result; one which we’ll quickly have to get used to, even if it is just for eight days.

There was no doubting the significance to the Dutch riders of the race beginning in their home nation. Already brimming with national pride from the Olympics, 32 of the 153 riders who started the race - 20% of the overall number - were on home soil as the race began. The significance of was not lost on defending champion Demi Vollering, whose emotional pre-race interview really set the tone for the race, reminding us all of the importance of this flagship event to women’s cycling, both now and in the future.

The most combative team of the early part of the day was undoubtedly Spanish continental side Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi, who were involved in all of the early attacks and eventually launched lone rider Cristina Tonetti up the road. Though a counter-move tried to bridge across, it never quite came together.

Speaking of bridges, there was drama when a huge number of riders (on a bridge), but luckily the damage seemed to impact bikes more than bodies, with everyone up and riding again as quickly as their mechanics could get to them. Lidl-Trek’s Gaia Realini was also mechanically disadvantaged, and with Elisa Longo Borghini already out for Lidl-Trek, it was vital for the team to keep her in contact – step in Lizzie Deignan, who had Realini’s back, pacing her back to the peloton.

Maybe the smallest climb ever to result in the prize of an actual jersey, the Maasdeltatunnel, would reward the first rider to complete its one kilometre distance and ride over the QOM point, which stood rather unimpressively on a motorway as if to underscore the underwhelming nature of the climb. Not exactly picturesque, but didn’t matter to Tonetti, who was able to ride to the full two points, and would finish the stage as the first Queen of the Mountains, a huge boost for her and her team.

It spelled the end of the breakaway though, and a tense run-in to the Hague commenced, with Marianne Vos opening her account on the path to going for green by winning the intermediate sprint. Lidl-Trek’s ill fortune continued with a crash for Amanda Spratt, but she was back up quickly, and it wasn’t the last crash of the day, with Elise Chabbey (Canyon//SRAM) and Loes Adegeest (FDJ-SUEZ) coming down together just over a kilometre from the line.

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL have been one of the most well-drilled teams all season in terms of their lead-out, and though it hasn’t paid many dividends for their sprinter Charlotte Kool thus far, they were undeterred as they launched for the Dutch woman, British champion Pfeiffer Georgi putting in a monster turn before handing over to Rachele Barbieri. It wasn’t straightforward, however, and a mechanical for Lorena Wiebes left Kool following the SD Worx lead-out rider Barbera Guarischi, who was well clear of the field when she discovered it was not her sprinter on her wheel, but Kool, who launched her own sprint and stormed clear of the rest to take the first stage win, and the yellow jersey, by a significant margin.

A Dutch winner and wearer of the first yellow jersey, though maybe not the one we all expected. Wiebes was clearly heartbroken after the stage and she blamed a racing incident for her derailleur breaking off and taking her out of contention. She will have another opportunity in the morning. For me, the most impressive performance today was Daria Pikulik of Human Powered Health – she took silver in the women’s omnium just yesterday in the final event on track in Paris, and to finish sixth in today’s sprint is really quite something.

Chapeau to Team dsm who will be celebrating their brilliant start to the race, and hoping they can make it two from two in the morning – though they will face a wounded Wiebes, who won’t want to miss out at the second time of asking.

5 Minutes With...

by Anna McEwen

FEATURE: A Chastening Day for Tashkent

by Peter Barnes

Tashkent City’s inclusion in the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is not without controversy, and although I’d love to write about that, there are others who are more knowledgeable in that area. However, they are here now, but day one wasn’t plain sailing. They created headlines fairly early on when some of their riders were dropped way too soon. Of the five abandons on day one, four were from the Uzbek team, which means they only have three riders remaining after just 124km of racing.

I feel sorry for those riders who cannot compete any longer - having to race at a level beyond their own because a system designed to reward performance has instead rewarded creative thinking and loopholes.

I also feel sorry for those riders who cannot compete in a different sense. The British team, Lifeplus-Wahoo, that it was recently announced will be folding, would have benefitted immensely from inclusion in the race. There’s no doubt that they would have generated talking points from the race in a positive way. The boon from being involved in one of the most reputable women’s bike races could have been a lifeline for Lifeplus.

Instead we have Tashkent riding and I hope that they use this experience to help their riders; that those who’ve had to withdraw can be supported as this situation is not of their doing - that they grow as bike riders and get stronger and are able to contribute to the race in future years. And finally I hope that the team’s remaining riders can get through the race and create positive talking points in the Tour.

PREVIEW: STAGE 2 – Tuesday 13 August – Dordrecht – Rotterdam (69.7km, Flat)

It's two-stage Tuesday! Yes, following somewhat quirky decision-making, the organisers have scheduled two stages tomorrow, the first of which is another flat one, but at just 70km in length, and with no QOM or intermediate sprint points to worry about, the day will begin with a bang - albeit bright and early - and a short, sharp shock of a stage will follow, which could be super exciting, but will more likely be a cautious one, with another bunch sprint finish likely. All before lunch.

Over to Douwe van Hinsbergen for some Geology - follow the account @geotdf on social media for more!

PREVIEW: Stage 3 – Tuesday 13 August – Rotterdam – Rotterdam (6.3km, Individual Time Trial)

Back in Rotterdam, a short ride against the clock is part two of two-stage Tuesday, and will offer the opportunity for time-trial specialists and powerful rouleurs to go for a stage win. It's great for the fans, who can enjoy two stages in one day, but maybe not so good for the GC riders who must re-focus after a stressful flat stage and try not to lose too much time on the overall standings. Thankfully, it will still be just a matter of seconds separating the women at the top of pile at the close of play, but we'll likely see a new yellow jersey ahead of stage 4 on Wednesday.

Photo Galleries

We are lucky enough to have Justin Britton on the ground shooting the race for the site again this year, here are a selection of the best of his shots from stage 1.

Before the race...

The fans...

More pre-race shots...

And some from the podium...

And finally...