Wiebes scorches to Tour Femmes opener after hanging tough on uphill finale

Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) won stage 1 of the Tour de France Femmes in Lausanne after an explosive finish on the short, sharp climb of the Côte Saint-François.

The Dutchwoman takes the first yellow jersey of the Tour after resisting the accelerations on the 2.6km climb to the finish.

Wiebes opened her effort from distance to claim an emphatic win ahead of Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez), while Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) took fourth ahead of Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly).

Escapees Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek), Maud Rijnbeek (Volkerwessels), Idoia Eraso (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) and Nikola Nosková (Cofidis) were swept up with 6km to go after the peloton had closed in relentlessly during the flat and fast run-in along the shores of Lake Geneva. 

Movistar, UAE Team L’IMAD and AG Insurance Soudal were all prominent on the approach to the base of the climb. Le Court forced the pace with 1.5km to go, forcing a split in the peloton.

Célia Gery (FDJ-Suez) was the next to accelerate with a little over a kilometre to go, with Kasia Niewiadoma and Le Cort prominent in following, but she couldn’t snap the elastic, while the danger woman Wiebes remained in contention.

As the road began to level out slightly, Vollering accelerated with intent, but while she stretched out the existing gaps, she couldn’t shake off Wiebes.

And there was a degree of inevitably about the sprint that followed, with Wiebes delivering an emphatic effort to claim the spoils.

There was a flurry of early attacking when the flag dropped on the Tour de France Femmes, and the break of the day established itself inside the opening kilometres. Maud Rijnbeek (Volkerwessels), Idoia Eraso (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Nikola Nosková (Cofidis) and Océane Mahe (Ma Petite Entreprise) forged clear and quickly established a lead over the peloton.

Alison Jackson (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93) missed the move, but she made a game attempt to bridge up to the escapees, first in the company of Kiara Lylyk (Mayenne-Mombana-MyPie) and later by herself. 

The peloton, meanwhile, was happy for some early détente, and they gave the break considerable leeway through the first two hours of racing. With none of the sprinters’ teams willing to take up the reins from distance, the break’s lead mushroomed out to a maximum of six minutes. Jackson closed to within 50 seconds of the leaders at one point, but she could get no closer and she sat up to await the peloton. 

The intermediate sprint at Villeneuve with 65km to go triggered a reaction from the peloton, with SD Worx-Protime springing into action on behalf of Lorena Wiebes, and their effort quickly cut the break’s advantage to three minutes.

On the following Côte de Villars-le-Comte, Demi Vollering’s FDJ United-Suez team set a brisk pace that splintered the peloton and shaved more time off the break’s buffer, with Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) attacking alone over the other side.

Mahé’s second place on the Côte de Vulliens was enough to give her the mountains jersey, but the break splintered soon afterwards, with Nosková striking out alone at the summit with 40km to go.

Eraso gave chase alone, while Spratt picked up Rijnbeek and Mahé dropped back to the peloton, her job done.

Spratt and Mahé would catch Eraso shortly afterwards, and that trio trailed Nosková by 25 seconds with 25km to go, while the peloton was 1:20, with Visma Lease a Bike now setting the tempo.

Marlen Reusser (Movistar) was a faller on the long descent back towards Lake Geneva with 20km remaining, and the Swiss rider gave chase in the company of teammate Tota Magalhães, latching on as the road flattened out.

Spratt brought Eraso and Rijnbeek back up to Nosková with 15km to go, but the peloton was closing in rapidly ahead of the decisive final kick to the line up the Côte Saint-François.