The best of the best in women’s professional cycling gathered in Switzerland on Saturday to kick off this year’s Tour de France Femmes avec Swift, with Dutch cyclist Lorena Wiebes laying claim to the yellow jersey in an early warning to rivals.
A total of 154 riders will battle it out in nine stages across Switzerland and France, including on the gruelling slopes of Mount Ventoux in a first for the women’s edition.
While all eyes are on favourites such as defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot of Team Visma Lease-a-Bike and triple Grand Tour winner Demi Vollering of FDJ–Suez, a commanding performance from Wiebes made it clear the battle for the French crown remains wide open.
Wiebes seals sprint dominance
It was the punchy riders and sprinters who showed their grit and strength during the first two stages in Switzerland, with the peloton catching up to the breakaway riders to open up a sprint battle in both finales.
Team SD Worx – Protime’s Wiebes took advantage and emerged victorious to take stage one and the yellow jersey on Saturday.
Stage two exploded again with many riders making moves to attack and form a breakaway, such as Lidl-Trek’s Riejanne Markus, who led more than a half minute and went solo 27 kilometres from the finish line.
The peloton, however, was not keen to let her go that easily.
Markus was caught just 500 metres from the finale, which then opened up an opportunity for another sprint finish — one that Wiebes won over the likes of Markus’ teammate Elisa Balsamo and former world champion Marianne Vos, who finished second and third respectively.
Wiebes not only grabbed her second stage win but also extended her claim to the yellow jersey.
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Teamwork on point
Wiebes praised the efforts of her teammates in stage two, which made it possible for her to fight for another win.
“The girls were chasing full gas in the final to bring back Riejanne Markus. That makes it even more beautiful to finish it off,” she said in a post-race interview.
“It was up to me to find my own way in the final kilometre and claim the win. Luckily, I found some good wheels and could come out with 250 metres to go and launch my sprint.”
She admitted that keeping the yellow jersey would be a difficult task starting from hilly stage three.
But she remained determined to keep the lead.
“It will be hard to keep the Yellow Jersey… but we will do our best!”
Wiebes now has a 14-second gap from AG Insurance – Soudal Team’s Kim Le Court-Pienaar and a 16-second gap from Vollering.
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Visma and Ferrand-Prévot on the lookout
Ferrand-Prévot, who won last year’s edition, currently sits ninth overall.
The latest stages saw her a bit discreet, choosing to become a leadout for Vos in the final kilometres of stage two.
But the Olympic gold medallist is perhaps waiting for the right time to strike, particularly in the individual time trial in Tuesday’s stage four and the bigger climbs in the latter stages.
“As soon as we knew there was a time trial, we made sure to put me in a better position on the time-trial bike, and do quite a few aerodynamic tests on the track,” she was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
“I’ve spent a lot of time on the time-trial bike these last months. So I will try to give my best and to limit the damage on the fourth stage.”
For Visma sports director Jos van Emden, the first two days brought “plenty of positives”, especially in stage two.
“I saw a very strong team today,” he said, and praised the initial performance of the team.
“All in all, I saw plenty of positives.”
A hilly stage three is set to welcome riders on Monday, where the Tour now returns to the roads of France.
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