Mavi García took a nail-biting solo victory on stage two of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift on Sunday, holding off the chasers by just three seconds.
The Liv AlUla Jayco rider attacked what was left of the bunch just inside the 12km mark of the 110km stage between Brest and Quimper. She rode very cleverly, holding off a bunch which failed to commit on the rolling, winding roads of Brittany.
Behind her SD Worx-Protime and Visma-Lease a Bike positioned Lorena Wiebes and yellow jersey Marianne Vos respectively, but they were unable to bring them close enough in the final. The last climb to the line saw attacks from defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), but the gap was too big.
Wiebes eventually finished in second place, with Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) taking third place. After her second place on stage one the Mauritian champion now leads overall.
The final 30km were a chaos of attacking racing with pre-race favourites Niewiadoma-Phinney and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) making moves on the final circuit and trying to bridge to a leading group.
That breakaway of four were caught inside the final the 12km, and just afterwards García made her own move, reaching the bottom of the final climb with a lead of 18 seconds and taking 10 seconds in the last two kilometres.
Though she has wins at the Classic Lorient Agglomération and a stage at the Vuelta Burgos, it was the biggest win of García’s career and will certainly be a boost for the team, which had not previously won a stage of the Tour.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After a punchy opening stage, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift was set for more of the same for stage two’s 110.4km race between Brest and Quimper, in France’s far north-west.
The race headed south, tackling an intermediate sprint and two classified climbs before joining a 25.9km closing circuit for one-and-a-half laps. That circuit had its own classified climb, the Côte du Chemin de Trohéir ridden twice, though the entire circuit was lumpy. The second time round the top of that climb came less than 5km from the finish, which itself was uphill, though not as steep as Saturday’s opening stage.
Attacks came from the gun, with Aude Biannic (Movistar) and stage one’s most aggressive rider, Franziska Koch (Picnic-PostNL) getting away. Both riders had something to prove, with Movistar’s GC rider, Marlen Reusser, failing to finish stage one after suffering from illness, and Picnic-PostNL’s sprinter, Charlotte Kool, not starting on Sunday, succumbing to injuries from a recent crash. A counter attack was quickly snuffed out but the bunch gave the leaders little more than a minute’s lead.
The two leaders rolled through the intermediate sprint, while in the real battle for green jersey points behind, Wiebes beat Vos to third. The breakaway were unable to resist the peloton on the ensuing third category climb, Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco) beating Elise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) to the top, the pair then heading up the road as a new breakaway.
The climb had taken plenty of victims though, the peloton split in two, with world champion Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) one of those caught out, and while she was soon back in the bunch, it was a indication of her form.
Meanwhile, at the front, Smulders and Chabbey were joined by Maud Rijnbeek (VolkerWessels), the Dutch rider up the road for the second successive stage. The three leaders took 40 seconds over the next classified climb, with 42km to go, though Rijnbeek was dropped but caught by Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ). The two of them got back to the front of the race, though on the final circuit, the ascent of the day’s final classified climb, the Côte du Chemin de Trohéir put paid to Rijnbeek, and she dropped back to the chasing peloton.
The leaders took 40 seconds over the finish line, though that was down to less than 30 when they reached the bonus second sprint with 22.9km remaining. But it was here last year’s winner Niewiadoma-Phinney attacked, taking Ferrand-Prévot, and gaining a small gap, though they were brought to heel by the FDJ-SUEZ team of Demi Vollering.
It was then Riejanne Markus’s turn, the Lidl-Trek rider bridging to the leading trio with 17km to go, while Vos’s team went to work behind, trying to set their leader up for a sprint. Their work paid off, and the breakaway was tagged with just 12km of the day to go. García then made her winning move.
RESULTS
TOUR DE FRANCE AVEC ZWIFT, STAGE 2, BREST > QUIMPER (110.4KM)
1. Mavi García (Esp) Liv-Alula-Jayco, in 2:44:26
2. Lorena Wiebes (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, +03s
3. Kim Le Court (Mau) AG Insurance-Soudal
4. Liane Lippert (Ger) Movistar
5. Marianne Vos (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike
6. Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol) Canyon-SRAM-zondacrypto
7. Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ-SUEZ)
8. Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike
9. Puck Pieterse (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck
10. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, all at same time
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 2
1. Kim Le Court (Mau) AG Insurance-Soudal, in 4:37:25
2. Marianne Vos (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, at same time
3. Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike, +06s
4. Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol) Canyon-SRAM-zondacrypto, +10s
5. Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ-SUEZ), + 13s
6. Puck Pieterse (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, +15s
7. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, at same time
8. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, +19s
9. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZ) Lidl-Trek
10. Chloé Dygert (USA) Canyon-SRAM-zondacrypto, all at same time
