Seven key takeaways from the Tour de France Femmes stage 3

Given it was the first real chance for the sprinters, and especially for Lorena Wiebes and her team SD Worx Protime to get off the mark, there was little chance of the early break making it to the line. That didn’t deter breakaway legend herself Alison Jackson from attempting it though; alongside Clemence Latimier, Catalina Soto Campos and Sara Martin. They worked incredibly well as a quartet together, as SD Worx controlled the peloton with some help from the other sprinters' teams. 

Eventually as the gap closed to under 30 seconds with 10km to go, they started to attack each other and were caught, with Latimier claiming the combativity jersey. It was a big effort by all four riders on a day not particularly friendly to a breakaway, and therefore they all deserve recognition for their attempt. 

It’s been a brutal start to the Tour for the Yellow jersey favourites, even without a proper ‘GC day’. Two-time Giro d'Italia winner Elisa Bongo Borghini became the latest victim on Monday morning, withdrawing from the race due to an illness. After showing off her fine form since a winter move across to UAE Team ADQ, the Italian perhaps looked like she could contend with Demi Vollering on a more even level than previously given her Giro triumph and it is surely very disappointing to quit the race in this fashion. 

In terms of the overall race, while contenders are slowly whittled down; the fight for yellow is still wide open and the exact form of most riders has not been revealed yet, leaving much excitement still to come from this race. 

The undisputed queen of sprinting in the peloton lived up to her reputation on stage 3 of the race, easing away from the field in the first flat finish. After navigating a technical finale successfully, the Dutch powerhouse had not a care in the world that the ever-present Marianne Vos was stuck right on her wheel, opening her sprint up with just over 100 metres to go. Unfortunately for the rest of the field, slipstream is still not going to be enough to pass Wiebes when she gets going and thus she crossed the line to take stage victory. 

After years of having the best climber, puncheur, time-trialist and sprinter in the field, SD Worx are having to adapt their expectations. This change squares almost all the pressure on Wiebes to deliver success in the form of victories for the team, something which she is not used to. Kopecky’s lack of form only accuentuates this problem, although she did a fantastic job as a lead-out today. 

Both in the stage win and the Green jersey standings, Vos played the stage well, getting the most out of her legs and ensuring nothing was taken without a proper fight by the European champion. During the finish as mentioned, Vos found and stuck to Wiebes wheel, allowing her to stay close to the sprinter to the line. Her sprint certainly doesn’t look too shabby and while Wiebes is practically unbeatable if she starts a sprint in the correct position, Vos today showed she would be there to take any opportunities that may arise. 

While Vos coming second to Wiebes has also been the trend at intermediate sprints, it means that Vos is only 18 points behind her rival in the points standings. With Wiebes climbing dropping a level this year, Vos will be hoping she has plenty of opportunities to gain points back later and therefore the green jersey fight is still open for now. 

Having had a career-year so far in 2025, with victories in the Cadel Evans road race, Clasica de Almeira and the GC in the Tour of Britain, New Zealander Ally Wollaston came into the race with plenty of confidence. In stage 3 came her first real shot at a good result and she delivered brilliantly. Surviving a really difficult end to the course, with crashes, tight corners and the peloton being left single file for periods, Wollaston found herself in a good position and sprinted to third, only behind the two sprinting legends of Wiebes and Vos. That is a very respectable place to be, and arguably the best sprint of her year. 

After Kim Le Court took the yellow jersey yesterday on bonus seconds, Vos only had to gain a single second to take it back and she duly did, securing six bonus seconds for her second-place finish. By placing these hilly stages and sprint stages at the start, the organisers ensure that the fight for yellow during the early stages will be close and usually worn by riders that have no aims of holding it to the end. This always adds a touch of drama to every stage beyond the stage result and long-term GC favourites battle, which is a fun aspect of the race.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, it looks to be a difficult sprint day but still probably ending in a bunch. With a lead of six seconds over Le Court and Wiebes still being out of bonus seconds range, Vos would expect to keep yellow for another day, but given the way this Tour has unfolded so far, who knows what will happen. 

In a race full of crashes and GC contenders dropping like flies, no incident will affect the race quite like this one did. The Tour de France Femmes favourite and world's best GC rider has had a slightly underwhelming season since joining FDJ-Suez; yet still won the only Grand Tour that she’s competed in so far. After cruelly missing out by four seconds, in part thanks to poor treatment by her team last year, Vollering came into the race more motivated than ever.

With just over three kilometres left, Vollering went down hard in a crash that also involved prominent riders Puck Pieterse and Elisa Balsamo. Unable to climb back on straight away, Vollering had to be helped up by her teammates and chaperoned to line on her bike; a very concerning site. After the race she reported pain in her knee, hip and back. The only positive for Vollering is that the 3km time-taking rule was extended to 5km this time and therefore she lost no ground in the GC.

Hopefully the Dutch legend can race tomorrow and her condition is as good as possible but it is hard to imagine Vollering being up to full fitness for rest of the race. If this is the case, then the GC battle is completely open, with Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney and Anna van der Breggen untested on longer climbs this year, while no-one can tell how Pauline Ferrand-Prevot will go later on. Pauliene Rooijakkers, Liane Lippert and Sarah Gigante all look more likely to challenge for overall victory than they were before the race start. After three editions where the top few contenders were universally recognised before the race even started, 2025’s yellow jersey fight looks to be the most unpredictable in the race’s four-year history.