Mavi García claims daring win on Tour de France Femmes stage 2
The Spanish rider's attack inside the final 10km netted her stage victory in Quimper while Kim Le Court's third place was enough to put her in the yellow jersey ahead of Marianne Vos.
Mavi García (Liv AlUla Jayco) claimed a daring victory on stage 2 of the Tour de France Femmes in Quimper, attacking inside the final 10km and then fending off a fast-closing chasing group on the climb to the line.
The 41-year-old came home three seconds ahead of Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) and Kim Le Court (AG-Insurance Soudal), who led the fast-closing group of favourites across the line.
Le Court has the consolation of moving into the yellow jersey ahead of Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike), who is second overall on the same time, while her teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prévot lies third at six seconds.
García attacked alone with 9km remaining on the punchy finishing circuit, building a maximum lead of 20 seconds. She defended herself on the final classified climb of the Côte du Chemin de Trohéir and still had had 13 seconds in hand entering the uphill final kilometre.
Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) was prominent in attempting to tee up Wiebes at the base of the climb, but García doled out her effort perfectly to hold off the chasers and win the day.
How it unfolded
The peloton was flagged away from the start in Brest without Charlotte Kool (Picnic-PostNL), who was forced to abandon after struggling on the opening day with the injuries she sustained at the recent Baloise Ladies Tour.
As if to compensate, her Picnic-PostNL squad were immediately on the attack. After an early effort from Megan Jastrab was snuffed out, Franziska Koch (Picnic PostNL) and Aude Biannic (Movistar) slipped up the road and built an initial lead of a minute.
Visma-Lease a Bike’s interest in controlling affairs for Marianne Vos ahead of the intermediate sprint placed a natural limit on their leeway, however. Although they picked up the points there ahead of a peloton led by Lorena Wiebes, they were caught on the first classified climb, the Menez Quelerc'h, after 50km.
Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco) led over the climb ahead of Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez), and that pair continued their effort over the other side to build a lead over the peloton. Maud Rijnbeek (VolkerWessels) counterattacked soon afterwards to form a trio at the head of the race, and they entered the final 50km with 40 seconds in hand on the bunch.
The peloton had fragmented slightly on the ascent, with world champion Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) among those caught behind. The Belgian had declined requests to speak to the media after her subdued showing on the opening day, and she looked to be in difficulty again here, but she managed to navigate her way back to the head of the peloton after the climb.
The queen of the mountains, Chabbey, took the maximum points atop the Côte de Locronan, where there was again an injection of pace in the peloton, with all of the GC grandees careful to position themselves towards the front on the ascent.
Chabbey and Smulders had shed themselves of Rijnbeek by then, and they entered the final 32km with a lead of just 20 seconds over the peloton. Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) bridged up to the escapees ahead of the first ascent of the Côte du Chemin de Trohéir, where Chabbey cemented her lead in the mountains classification by winning the sprint.
Behind, Le Court needed a bike change on the ascent, but the relative détente in the peloton allowed her to latch back on over the other side. The tension in the bunch rose on the approach to the bonus sprint at Pen Ar Stang, with Brodie Chapman a faller.
The break hoovered up the bonus seconds, with Chabbey leading Smulders through the sprint, but the drama came in the peloton, where Kasia Niewiadoma (CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto) attacked on the climb, bringing Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Visma | Lease a Bike) with her.
That sent the peloton scrambling in pursuit, and the two GC contenders were brought back with 20km, by which point the break’s lead was down to just a dozen seconds. At that point, it looked as though the game was up, but they gained some momentum when Riejanne Markus (Lidl-Trek) bridged across soon afterwards.
Visma, however, were taking matters into their own hands for Vos, and they duly swept up the escapees with 13km remaining. Inside the final 10km, Mavi García (Liv AlUla Jayco) attacked alone out the peloton and she carried a 15-seconds lead into the second ascent of the Côte du Chemin de Trohéir, where the peloton fragmented, with Giro winner Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) among those distanced when the gradient bit, with Kopeckuy also tailed off near the top.
Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) put in a dig near the top of the climb, which was immediately answered by Niewiadoma, and it was Chabbey who led the reduced peloton over the top 14 seconds behind García.
That still didn’t seem like enough on this terrain and against this opposition, but the wily García had calculated her effort smartly. When she made it through the steepest part of the last ascent with the bulk of her lead still intact, it was clear that she was about to pull off a remarkable heist.
