Vos reminds us again why she’s the GOAT - Takeaways from the Tour de France Femmes stage 1

After all the anticipation ahead of the fourth edition of the biggest race in Women’s cycling, the drama began before it even officially started. There was a crash in the neutral zone involving a number of riders, including Cofidis' Clara Koppenburg, due to some poorly signposted road furniture, and the start was delayed allowing everyone to get back to the front. Luckily no one was badly affected by the crash and started the race in good condition. 

Given it was the opening stage of the most watched and broadcasted race on the women’s calendar, a big fight of the smaller teams to get that crucial representation and TV time was expected. However, there was a distinct lack of this strong fight. The opening two attacks, from Laura Tomasi of team Laboral Kutxa - Fundación Euskadi and Maud Rijnbeek from Volker Wessels Cycling were unchallenged and as such, they made up the early break for the day. Rijnbeek attacked to go solo before the first climb, with Tomasi returning to the peloton. 

Unfortunately, that neutral zone crash was not the only crash during the day. Ruby Roseman Gannon went down early on and then came the big one, Marlen Reusser, Lianne Lippert, Mavi Garcia and Marion Brunel crashed hard. The second crash was at a really bad time, coming just before the intermediate sprint and therefore they faced a fight to get back into the group. 

After her press conference yesterday, it was hoped that Reusser was exaggerating her illness and that she would still be able to compete for the Yellow Jersey. Unfortunately, this was not true and the Tour de Suisse champion hung at the back of the peloton all day. When she crashed, Reusser instantly turned to help teammate Lianne Lippert and later on abandoned. The race will go on without one of the main favourites in cruel fashion. 

In what was a harsh intermediate sprint by the organisers, Wiebes brutally grinded the peloton off her wheel, staying the saddle and took full points. The other sprinters didn’t even attempt to challenge her. The jersey almost looks as good as hers already as long as the European champion finishes the race.

It was a competitive fight at the front of the peloton all day, but Visma | Lease a Bike were never pushed from the front, with a clear goal of how they wanted to finale to look. They managed to execute this perfectly. Within the final kilometre, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot was leading out Vos, and her rhythm was so strong no one could follow. Vos sat in the wheels, using up everyone to close the gap for her. Wanting to allow her French teammate to claim the Yellow jersey, she waited until the final second when Kim Le Court began to overtake and sprinted past, completing what was an ideal day for Visma.

As the level of the peloton rises, the Dutch legend keeps rising too. With Kopecky, Wiebes and Vollering all setting the modern standard of climbing and sprinting it would be easy to assume that Vos’s results would surely fall off. But they never do, she just has winning in her legs. Every year and every race she continues to boost her legacy, but how much more is there to achieve for the GOAT?

Based on pre-race interviews, Ferrand-Prevot is not quite ready to fight for GC yet. If this is correct, then Niewiadoma-Phinney was the best finisher of the GC contenders, and indeed the only one that stayed in that front group. While 3 seconds to Vollering and 5 to Van Der Breggen will not be race defining, it is a mental victory for the defending champion. Pauliene Rooijakkers and Sarah Gigante can be relatively satisfied to lose just 9 and 21 seconds respectively as climbers who prefer longer and tougher ascents. 

In a chaotic approach to the final climb, the Giro champion found herself taking a lot of wind and being in a poor position. With her attempts to address this situation, Longo Borghini overextended herself and ended up losing 51 seconds on the final drag to the line. It is a significant margin to lose considering the stage profile, and already puts the Italian on the backfoot as she looks to claim the Giro-Tour double. She can take hope from that Giro victory, where she clawed herself up the podium on the harder climbs after being down early in the race. 

Losing over a minute on a stage that would usually suit the World Champion; she confirmed what she had said pre-race – that a yellow jersey fight would not be possible for the Belgian in her current shape. Van Der Breggen therefore becomes the sole focus for the overall fight within Team SD Worx-Protime.