Tour de France Femmes: Lorena Wiebes powers to stage 2 sprint victory as late-race soloist Riejanne Markus is caught close to the line

Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) won her second consecutive stage of the Tour de France Femmes, sprinting to victory on stage 2 in Geneva ahead of Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike).

Riejanne Markus (Lidl-Trek) counterattacked with 40km to go after the early break had been caught, and she built a gap of up to 1:12 minutes. In the peloton, SD Worx-Protime were left to chase on their own and had to use up their entire team in an effort to close down the solo attacker.

Markus held onto a 25-second advantage going into the last 5km and was still 12 seconds ahead when Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) swung off at the 2km mark, leaving Wiebes to surf the other teams' trains who now took over the chase, catching Markus 450 metres from the finish.

Liv AlUla Jayco led the peloton onto the 300m finishing straight where Wiebes launched a long sprint, winning the stage by several bike lengths.

“Winning in yellow makes it special, for sure, but also because, again, our team SD Worx-Protime worked really hard for it. The girls were chasing full, full gas in the final to bring back Riejanne Markus. Then it’s even more beautiful to finish it off in the yellow,” said Wiebes after her seventh Tour stage victory, but the first one wearing the yellow jersey.

“Riejanne stayed ahead a long time, and at one point we decided to also put Lotte in the chase because we needed everyone. Then I knew that it was up to me to find my own way. I found some good wheels, I could come out with around 200 metres to go, and then I just launched my sprint,” Wiebes described the final.

Virtually unbeatable in a sprint, sprinting and winning still doesn’t get boring for her.

“I think every sprint is exciting. If you make a small mistake, the sprint is over, and you cannot finish it off for the team. For me, it’s exciting every time and a bit nervous sometimes to sprint,” Wiebes explained.

Solo breakaway caught at the line

143 riders took the start in Aigle, home to the UCI headquarters, for a 147.9km stage with five classified climbs on the way to Geneva. Despite the climbs, the stage was expected to end in a mass sprint.

In sunny weather and high temperatures, there were several attempts to break away, but it took a long time for a break to be established. The first two climbs were contested by the peloton, with Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) first atop the third-category Côte de Chexbres and Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease a Bike) winning the fourth-category Côte de Savigny.

Only after the live broadcast started with 98km to go did the attacks start again, with Eline Jansen (VolkerWessels) making the first move. She was followed by Yuliia Biriukova (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) and Carlotta Cipressi (Human Powered Health), with Eva Comte (Cofidis) and Anouska Koster (Uno-X Mobility) bridging after a brief chase.

Comte won the QOM sprint on the Côte de Cossonay, two minutes ahead of the peloton, and at the intermediate sprint in Lavigny with 59km to go, the gap had gone out to 2:51 minutes as SD Worx-Protime were the only team chasing in the peloton. Visma-Lease a Bike, Canyon-SRAM, and Fenix-Premier Tech all sat back, refusing to help in the chase only to see Wiebes beat them in the sprint.

Nonetheless, the gap had been reduced to 1:18 minutes atop the short, steep Côte de Bougy-Villars where the break fell apart as Koster, Comte, and Jansen went for the mountain points, leaving Biriukova and Cipressi behind.

At the foot of the Côte de Mont-sur-Rolle, the gap was down to 40 seconds, and an attack Célia Gery (FDJ United-Suez) opened the gates for a flurry of moves on the climb. After the descent, Gery, Nina Berton (EF Education-Suez), Sarah Van Dam (Visma-Lease a Bike), Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek), and Sara Casasola (Fenix-Premier Tech) joined Koster, Comte, and Jansen to form a front group of eight riders.

They were only 15 seconds ahead of the peloton, though, and the group did not cooperate well. 41km from the line, Berton attacked into an unclassified 4km climb but was closed down by Gery, then Comte made one last effort to stay ahead. She got a small gap, and after the other seven riders were reeled in, Markus attacked out of the peloton, bridging to Comte halfway up the climb and soon leaving her behind.

Markus forged on at full speed, and by the time SD Worx-Protime had gotten themselves organised again with 34km to go, she was almost a minute ahead. The chase was briefly interrupted when Nienke Vinke (SD Worx-Protime) took a wrong turn while leading the peloton, and Markus had 1:12 minutes in hand with 26.5km to go, pedalling almost metronomically.

SD Worx-Protime’s GC leader Anna van der Breggen eventually joined the paceline as well to help the chase, but Markus was still 39 seconds up with 15km to go. 6km from the line, already on the road along the shores of Lake Geneva, Markus was still 30 seconds ahead, and with 3.5km to go, the gap was still 19 seconds, and only Kopecky remained to chase for Wiebes.

When Kopecky swung off, she had reduced the gap to 12 seconds, and Liv AlUla Jayco, Canyon-SRAM, EF Education-Oatly, and Picnic PostNL took over. Markus was five seconds ahead under the flamme rouge but was finally caught 450m from the finish.

Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco) led through the last corner with 300m to go, her sprinter Letizia Paternoster on her wheel, but Wiebes accelerated out of the turn from seventh position and launched her irresistible sprint along the barriers on the right-hand side of the road, quickly pulling ahead and winning the stage in style. Balsamo came from behind to take second place with Vos following in third. Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance-Soudal) finished third, Paternoster took fifth place.

Results

Results powered by FirstCycling