Tour de France Femmes: Lotte Kopecky goes solo to win stage 1
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Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) added to her excellent palmares, claiming the opening stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in Clermont-Ferrand with a robust solo assault on the late climb on the stage.
The Belgian champion leapt away earlier than the Côte de Durtol with 9.6km to go and by no means seemed again.
With teammate and race favorite Demi Vollering disrupting the chase behind and the peloton in items, Kopecky sailed to the primary maillot jaune of the race.
The 2-time Tour of Flanders winner additionally added the factors jersey and polka dot climber’s jersey to her assortment.
Lorena Wiebes received the dash from the chasing group behind to make it an SD Worx 1-2 on the stage. Final yr’s factors classification winner Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) was an in depth fourth.
The way it unfolded
The opening stage on the Tour de France Femmes, a 123.8km that began and completed in Clermont-Ferrand, skirted across the famed Puy de Dôme however didn’t enterprise up the ascent.
It supplied the peloton an undulating route into an intermediate dash at Saint-Hippolyte and a class 3 ascent at Durtol earlier than a 9 kilometre descent and quick run-in to the end.
The peloton lined up beneath heat temperatures in Clermont-Ferrand, 32°C, with many riders had been carrying ice vests as they waited beneath the solar for the race to start. Forward of the stage, there have been questions surrounding whether or not the opener would finish in a bunch dash or if the GC battle would kick off over the Côte de Durtol, denying the sprinters an opportunity on the first yellow jersey.
The peloton stayed largely collectively for the opening 25km, maybe indicating some apprehension among the many discipline forward of the tougher closing 25km of the stage. Typhaine Laurance (Lifeplus Wahoo) made the primary assault and was chased by Amandine Fouquenet (Arkea) however by 78.4km to go the race was again collectively for one more 30km.
Marta Lach (Ceratizit-WNT) finally broke the stalemate and created some daylight between herself and the sector, slipping off the entrance with 45.4km to go. She rapidly constructed a lead out to 50 seconds heading into the intermediate dash in Saint-Hippolyte, however was caught earlier than she may declare any factors towards the inexperienced jersey.
A tangle of wheels pressured India Grangier (Group Coop-Hitec) and Amber Pate (Jayco AlUla) off their bikes momentarily, however each riders had been again up and within the discipline with 30km to the end.
Lizzie Deignan (Lidl-Trek) led the peloton throughout the dash line forward of Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance coverage-Soudal-Quickstep) however with a tricky climb nonetheless to come back the tempo was too excessive for any extra escapes.
Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) made the primary transfer on the climb, purportedly to nab the polka dot jersey, however her solo assault with 9.6km to go was highly effective and supported by her teammates nullifying the chase behind.
She then time trialed to the end, extending her result in a major 41 seconds and in addition took a ten-second time bonus.
Outcomes
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