Lorena Wiebes has prevailed in a chaotic sprint to claim the victory in the third phase of the Tour de France Femmes.
Wiebes brought co-Dutch driver Marianne Vos, who took the overall lead after a 163.5 kilometer trek from La Gacilly to Angers.
Sprint specialist Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), who narrowly lost two phase to Mavi García, made an explosive push for the finish as a crash in the last 4 km of temporarily removed different riders, including 2023 champion Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez).
Opening phase winner Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) lost a photo finish from Wiebes, but recovered the yellow sweater from Kim le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal).
Pienaar led the general classification after phase two, but dropped a position to follow Vos for six seconds.
“It was very hectic,” said Vos.
“I think when we went to the river right away, there was a big crash behind me. I hope everyone is doing well.”
The stage, usually on a flat terrain, started without Giro d’Italia winner Elisa Longo Borghini, who withdrew from the race because of a stomach infection.
Four riders made an early attack to form the leading package, with Alison Jackson (EF-Education-Natly) won a mountain sprint to the top of Cote de la Richardiere.
But others caught up slowly, in which Lotte Kopecky skillfully led her teammate Wiebes forward and the last sprint set up just before the crash derailed several riders behind them.
Ally Wollaston of New Zealand (FDJ-SUEZ) finished third when her teammate Volling, who recovered from the crash, remained in the general classification in the claims, was behind fox for 19 seconds.
The Tour will continue on Tuesday with phase four, a ride of 130.7 km from Saumur to Poitiers.
Reuters
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