Vos wins La Course by Le Tour de France

Image 1 of 25

Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv) won the La Course by Le Tour de France with a powerful attack on the last climb in the centre of Pau. Vos passed Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott) at the top of the short, steep climb after Spratt had been on a solo attack for the last of the five 25-kilometre laps.

Vos powered to the finish and won with a three-second gap to Leah Kirchmann (Team Sunweb) who beat Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Bigla) in the sprint for second place.

“My first La Course win was five years ago, to win it again now, on a different circuit, is a very special feeling,” said Vos.

“I came out of the Giro Rosa with good motivation, and La Course was a good inspiration to give it an extra go. The break of Amanda Spratt was pretty dangerous, so my teammates had to do a lot of work to bring it back. When I saw it came down on the climb, I knew I had a chance. I went and just had the legs to continue.”

How it happened

Having been held in the Alps for the previous two years after three editions on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, race organiser ASO moved the sixth edition of La Course to Pau. The women did five laps of a hilly circuit of 25 kilometres south of the city that included the Côte de Gelos followed by a rolling section, a technical downhill and the Côte d’Esquillot. After another descent, there were 11 flat kilometres to Pau where the Rue Mulot, a 185-metre, 17-percent wall on the final kilometre, meant this was a race for puncheurs. Due to a neutral section at the start of the race, the distance was 121 km.

A break of eleven riders formed on the first lap, with most of the big teams represented. The second time up the Côte de Gelos, four riders tried to bridge to the front but were quickly reeled in again by the peloton. When the breakaway’s advantage increased to 1:45 minutes after 60 kilometres, this prompted WNT-Rotor and Lotto Soudal Ladies – both teams had missed the break – to take up the chase and reduce the gap.

Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Trek-Segafredo) attacked from the breakaway but her solo move was over when Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) upped the pace on the third ascent of the Côte de Gelos, reeling in all escapees and reducing the peloton to about 50 riders.

The following kilometres were hectic with several unsuccessful attacks. On the Côte d’Esquillot with 37 km to go, an attack by Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans) led to a front group of 11 riders that also included Van Vleuten, Vos, Spratt, Uttrup Ludwig, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (CCC-Liv), Ane Santesteban (WNT-Rotor), Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), Lucinda Brand (Team Sunweb), Soraya Paladin (Alé Cipollini), and Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo).

This group of favourites struggled to work together and after several attacks, five riders got away while the other six were caught by the peloton. Spratt, Paladin, Moolman-Pasio, Uttrup Ludwig, and Brand had a lead of up to 20 seconds but the chase work done by Boels Dolmans in particular had reduced this to only a few metres at the bottom of the Rue Mulot.

Spratt kept the move going over the steep climb and pulled away from Moolman-Pasio and Uttrup Ludwig on the following descent, going solo 24.5 kilometres from the finish. After a regrouping behind, nobody took charge in the peloton and Spratt carved out an advantage of more than 30 seconds in the first half of the rolling final lap.

Brand launched an attack into the technical descent and was followed by Vos and Van Vleuten but this group was caught again after Uttrup Ludwig and Paladin bridged on the Côte d’Esquillot. Spratt still held a 26-second lead at the 10-kilometre mark but by now CCC-Liv and Team Sunweb had committed to reeling her in.

Despite Van Vleuten trying to disrupt their chase and Spratt giving everything she had, the Australian climber’s advantage gradually came down. Entering the final kilometre, Spratt was still 12 seconds ahead but the peloton could see her.

On the steep Rue Mulot, Vos made her trademark attack, passing Spratt at the top and going on to open a three-second gap to the rest in the last 350 metres to the finish. Kirchmann won the sprint for second ahead of Uttrup Ludwig.

Van Vleuten finished in seventh place and defended her lead in the UCI Women’s WorldTour classification. Marta Cavalli (Valcar Cylance) continues to lead the UCI Women’s WorldTour U23 ranking.

Elise Chabbey (Bigla) was part of the early breakaway and first over the Côte de Gelos twice, enough to win the race’s Queen of the Mountains classification. For her long-range solo attack, Spratt was awarded the combativity prize.

Full Results