It was a powerful sprint on the Champs-Élysées by Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) that saw her take out the opening stage of the Tour de France Femmes, clawing her way past Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) on the finish line to move into the yellow jersey as the race leader.
“The team did an amazing job, as a team a whole team, all the people at headquarters we’ve worked for this moment," said Wiebes. "It was a really chaotic and long sprint, I was expecting that Marianne would make it a long sprint and it’s nice to win.”
"It was really close, but I was able to accelerate one last time and come over the top. I was quite relaxed before the start but of course, I was a bit nervous towards the final and I’m happy to finish it off."
"It feels really special to ride here around Paris and even more special to wear the Maillot Jaune."
Tour de France Femmes race director Marion Rousse dropped the flag to set the peloton off in the reincarnation of the women’s Tour de France, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
Morgane Coston (Arkea) was the first rider to establish a breakaway, establishing a solo move that didn’t gain much beyond a half minute advantage before being reeled back in for the sprinters teams as they warmed up for the first mid-race sprint point.
The intermediate sprint was taken out by Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) from Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) with Alex Manly (BikeExchange-Jayco) the top sprinters establishing an early battle for the green jersey.
Pauline Allin (Arkea) and Henrietta Christie (Human Powered Health) were the next riders to try their luck in the break, before they were again hauled back for the second and final intermediate sprint, with Manly launching the sprint, but just being overhauled Lotte Kopecky (Trek-Segafredo) on the line.
Another attack yielded the first mountains jersey for Femke Markus (Parkhotel Valkenburg) the small climb to the top of the Champs-Élysées the point that decided the initial hom of the polkadot jersey as the queen of the mountains.
Gladys Verhulst (Le Col Wahoo) broke away to maintain the representation of the smaller teams up the road, going solo and maintaining a plucky presence at the front of the race, getting her lead out to a maximum of 50 seconds. Verhulst battled until within the final 2 kilometres when the sprint teams massed at the front of the peloton to set up their fast finishers.
Jumbo-Visma and Trek-Segafredo fought for position at the front of the race, with Anna Henderson (Jumbo-Visma) leading out the final sprint. Vos was the first to launch with 250 metres to go, getting out to an immediate lead, but the overwhelming power of Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) down the outside saw her overhaul Vos and take a convincing Stage 1 victory.
Wiebes takes on the overall race lead by four seconds ahead of Vos and she will also hold the sprint jersey, with Markus in the mountains jersey and Maike van der Duin (Le Col Wahoo) in the young rider's jersey.
The Tour de France continues with a sprint route across the French countryside to Provins. Watch Stage 2 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift from 10.15pm AEST on the SBS SKODA Tour Tracker, with the SBS and SBS On Demand broadcast starting from 10.30pm AEST.
