How the race finished
Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich PostNL) claimed the first yellow leaders jersey ahead of Anniina Ahtosalo (Uno-X Mobility) and Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), after a dropped chain spelled disaster for stage favourite Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx Protime).
Full results are available below.
How it happened
Stage One of Tour de France Femmes got underway in Rotterdam, racing a flat but exposed route of 124km to the finish line in The Hague, where the first yellow jersey was awarded.
The stage featured one categorised ‘climb’ in the Maasdeltatunnel, 0.8km at 1%, with a total vertical gain of 7m! Coastal areas in the Netherlands can be prone to the wind, but the race featured ideal conditions; warm sunny weather without much more than a light breeze.
Soon after the start, there was an an attack by Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka(Canyon//SRAM Racing), Gaia Mastetti (AG Insurance – Soudal Team) and Iurani Blanco(Laboral Kutxa – Fundación Euskadi). It wasn’t given much space, meaning they’d be caught just a few kilometres later.
With 79k m to go, an attack by Cristina Tonetti (Laboral Kutxa – Fundación Euskadi) saw the first real break established. The peloton seemed happy to give a single rider a bit of space, and she quickly established a modest gap.
At 75 km to go an attack from Giorgia Vettorello (Roland) was followed by Iurani Blanco (Laboral Kutxa – Fundación Euskadi), with the pair attempting to bridge across to Tonetti. In the peloton, the sprint teams quickly sprung to action, shutting the move down. At this point it was clear the sprint teams would keep a tight lid on the race.
With 71 km to go there was a big crash in the peloton as they were crossing a bridge. About half the peloton were held up to some extent, with Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) and Yara Kastelijn (Fenix Deceuninck) the most significant of the GC riders caught behind. Kastelijn seemed to be in a bit of pain, but all riders were able to remount and begin chasing back.
With 65 km to go and approaching the Maasdeltatunnel QOM point Tonetti still had one minute over the peloton, with the gap steadily decreasing. Two minutes behind, Realini and teammate Lizzie Deignan continued to chase back following the crash. Tonettii managed to hold off the peloton to take the max QOM points available, and with it a polkadot jersey for tomorrow and the next day. With 59 km to go Tonetti was caught, while Realini and Deignan managed to rejoin the peloton.
At this point the big sprint teams increasingly began controlling on the front, keeping a pace high enough to dissuade any attacks, especially before the intermediate sprint with 38 km to go. For the sprint itself, there was a big lead-out from Visma-Lease a Bike, with Marianne Vos taking it from Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco) in second and Marthe Truyen (Fenix Deceuninck) in third. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx Protime) sat the intermediate sprint out, resting her legs for the finish.
From here to the finish, the sprint teams would continue controlling at the front, with a few of the GC riders also staying up there, in an effort to avoid the risk of getting caught behind. With 8km to go SD Worx-Protime and EF Oatly Cannondale were notable on the front, lifting the pace on either side of the road. With plenty of corners on the run-in, other teams began pushing to the front to avoid any potential trouble. With 6km to go, dsm firmenich PostNL increasingly made their presence felt, along with Ceratizit WNT Pro Cycling.
The 3 km to go marker saw the final corner of the stage, before a long dragstrip finish. Out of this turn, Mischa Bredewold set the pace at the front for SD Worx Protime, stretching the peloton out. Then with 2km to go, Human Powered Health surged to the front for Daria Pikulik, only to fade back behind the dominant sprint trains of SD Worx Protime and dsm firmenich PostNL.
In the last kilometre, the race favourite Wiebes was positioned perfectly behind her leadout at the front, but a dropped chain meant heartbreak with only a couple of hundred metres to go. Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich PostNL) was then able to launch off her wheel and win easily. Behind, Anniina Ahtosalo (Uno-X Mobility) came in second, the biggest result for her career so far for the 20 year old Finnish sprinter. Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) rounded out the podium in third place, a solid result after returning from injury.
Stage Results
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