Hosking wins La Course by Le Tour de France

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Chloe Hosking (Wiggle-High5) won La Course by Le Tour de France, taking the sprint of a reduced field. The finale was marked by a series of crashes on the cobblestones. Second place went to Lotta Lepistö (Cervelo-Bigla), with Marianne Vos (Rabo-Liv) third.

The field stayed together much of the race, with numerous escapes quickly shut down. Ellen van Dijk (Boels-Doelmans) looked to have good chances in the final lap, but was caught and easily passed near the end.

"My team were incredible," Hosking said after celebrating with her family. "We missed the first break but we had everyone on the front for that move. We never gave up and they protected me and put me in position. I'm so lucky."

21 teams took to the start of the third running of this race, taking on 13 laps of the Champs Elysees for a total of 89 kilometres. The bunch stayed together on the early laps, with the only action being punctures caused by the cobblestones.

Soon, however, a break group of four formed: Lucinda Brand (Rabobank-Liv), Chantal Blaak (Boels-Doelmans), Hannah Blake (Canyon-SRAM), and Olga Zabelinskaya (BePink). On such a short course, the field was not eager to let anyone get much of a gap, and their lead was never more than eight seconds.

With 48 kilometres to go the group was caught. The pace stayed high, with no one team in control. Numerous attempts to get away were quickly squashed. Kathrin Hammes of Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank gave it a try with some 30 kilometres to go, but she too was reeled back in. The speed by now was high enough to string the peloton out, and the field was alert enough to hold things together.

By this time, Rabobank, determined to have Marianne Vos win the race again, aggressively rode down every break. In the penultimate lap, Brand went again, along with Amy Pieters (Wiggle) and Lauren Stephens (Tibco-SVB). This group was more successful, holding a gap of up to 11 seconds.

A crash near the end of the penultimate lap took down a number of riders, momentarily disrupting the chase.

The three leaders held on to their 10 second gap as the bell lap started. Their lead was narrow but they looked to have a good chance, as the chase was not co-ordinated. Another crash in the final lap again left several women lying injured on the road.

With 3.7km to go the gap was closed. Moments later, a crash near the front of the field took out a large number of riders.

It was a greatly reduced field of around 30 riders that went into the final two kilometres. Van Dijk jumped just before the final kilometre and led the way into the final curve. But the sprinters’ teams turned on the speed and caught her. Hosking came up through the middle, accelerating enough to take the win by several bike lengths.

"[The team] were incredible, " Hosking said. "There were a few moments there. We missed that first break that had about three or four girls in it, but I just looked up the peloton and they were all just on the front. Then Amy Pieters was in a break with a lap to go, and I don’t even know when we caught them actually.

"Amy Roberts, our young British rider, was up the front, then at the back, and then up the front and never gave up. Then of course Audrey, our French rider, was protecting me for the last three laps, and put me in position. I'm so lucky!"

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