Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) sprinted to victory from a reduced group on stage three of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in Angers after a big crash took out Demi Vollering (FDJ Suez) in the final four kilometres.
The crash split the race in two as the sprinters' teams battled for control at the front of the main field. SD Worx had the strength in depth in the front group to ensure that Wiebes came out on top ahead of Marianne Vos after an impeccable leadout from Lotte Kopecky.
Vos took second place after pulling clear with Wiebes in the final few hundred metres. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider claimed six bonus seconds behind Wiebes which meant that she reclaimed the yellow jersey from Kim Le Court (AG Insurance Soudal). Ally Wollaston (FDJ Suez) took third and rounded out the podium.
As well as Vollering, several high profile riders went down in the crash during the finale. Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), Dygert and Letizia Paternoster (Liv AlUla Jayco) were also involved in the pile up. None of the injured riders lost any time due to the crash occurring within the final five kilometres of the stage.
Vollering initially sat at the roadside to catch her breath before being helped to stand up by another FDJ Suez rider. Juliette Labous and Amber Kraak stayed by her side as she crossed the finish line more than six minutes behind the stage winner, Wiebes.
Vos now leads the race by six seconds ahead of Le Court with Pauline Ferrand-Prévoy in third, 12 seconds down on her teammate.
How it happened
(Image credit: Getty Images)
After an undulating opening two stages, stage three was tailored towards the sprinters in the peloton as the race left Brittany and headed towards Angers. The riders faced just one categorised climb - the Côte de la Richardiere - with the rest of the terrain relatively flat across the 163 kilometres.
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An early break formed containing four riders: Alison Jackson (EF Education-oatly), Clemence Latimer (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Sara Martin (Movistar), and Catalina Soto (Labora Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi). The quartet soon had an advantage of almost three minutes over the chasing peloton as Jackson took maximum points in the mountains classification on the category four ascent, and in the intermediate sprint after 130 kilometres of racing.
A series of small crashes in the bunch raised the tension levels as the sprinters' teams began to get organised and attempt to get back on terms with the four attackers. Demi Vollering (FDJ Suez) put in an unexpected dig from the main field, right after the intermediate sprint, which briefly increased the intensity in the peloton even further.
With 21 kilometres to go, the Jackson-led break saw their advantage cut to just 50 seconds as all of the overall favourites began to move to the front of the peloton in a bid to keep out of trouble at the finish. Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto’s Chloé Dygert put in a huge turn on the front of the peloton before the SD Workx-Protime train took over with the aim of keeping both Lotte Kopecky and Lorena Wiebes well placed.
Despite the efforts of both Dygert and SD Worx, the breakaway held on and still had 34 seconds advantage as the race ticked under the 10 kilometres to go banner. However, the four leaders soon started to attack one another which disrupted their momentum. Martin was the first woman to attempt to split the break, before Jackson then took over and launched a flurry of aggressive moves in a bid to address the waning cohesion amongst the four leaders. The disharmony amongst the group proved to be its downfall as Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime) brought the race back together for what was anticipated to be a high octane dash for the line.
A big crash took out several riders, including Demi Vollering, at the three kilometre to go point. The race then split with both Marianne Vos and Lorena Wiebes well placed in the front group. Wiebes had the firepower in the final few hundred metres and launched a powerful sprint which Vos couldn't match to ensure she took the win.
Results
Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift stage 3, La Gacilly > Angers (163km)
1. Lorena Wiebes (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, in 3:41:47 2. Marianne Vos (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, 3. Ally Wollaston (Nze) FDJ Suez, 4. Megan Jastrab (Usa) Picnic PostNL, 5. Lianne Lippert (Ger) Movistar, 6. Shari Bossuyt (Bel) AG Insurance-Soudal, 7. Eline Jansen (Ned) VolkerWessels, 8. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon/?SRAM zondacrypto, 9. Noemi Ruegg (Swi) EF Education-Oatly, 10. Lucindaa Brand (Ned) Lidl-Trek, all at same time
General classification after stage three
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 8:19:06 2. Kim Le Court (Mau) AG Insurance-Soudal, +6s 3. Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike, +12s 4. Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol) Canyon-SRAM-zondacrypto, +16s 5. Lorena Wiebes (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, at same time 6. Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ-SUEZ), + 19s 7. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, +21s 8. Puck Pieterse (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, at same time 7. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, at same time 9. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, +25s 10. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZ) Lidl-Trek, at same time
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After previously working in higher education, Tom joined Cycling Weekly in 2022 and hasn't looked back. He's been covering professional cycling ever since; reporting on the ground from some of the sport's biggest races and events, including the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix and the World Championships. His earliest memory of a bike race is watching the Tour on holiday in the early 2000's in the south of France - he even made it on to the podium in Pau afterwards. His favourite place that cycling has taken him is Montréal in Canada.
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