Lorena Wiebes wanted the yellow jersey at all costs and the Dutch superstar fully lived up to all expectations by burning her rivals on the climb leading to the finish line of the first stage of the Tour de France Femmes. On a finish like this it's practically impossible to beat her and the Team SD Worx athlete was nothing short of devastating, second place for Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance), third Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ). Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team L'IMAD) in sixth is the best of the Italian riders. 

THE RACE. For the first time in the brief history of the Tour de France Femmes, Switzerland hosted the Grand Départ of the French stage race and thus celebrated its own national holiday. The first of three days offered a stage of 138 km with start and finish in Lausanne, a rolling course with 4 categorized climbs, the last being the Côte Saint François, 2.6km long, which led to the finish. 

The early phases of the race were characterized by a series of attacks but soon a breakaway formed featuring four riders: Nikola Noskova (Team Cofidis), Idoia Eraso (Laboral Kutxa), Mud Rijnbeek (VolkerWessels Cycling Team), Océane Mahé (Ma Petite Entreprise). The breakaway riders gained a maximum advantage of 6 minutes, while behind them Alison Jackson (St Michel Préférence Home Auber 93) and Kiara Lylyk (Mayenne Monbana My Pie) tried for several kilometers to close the gap to the front of the race without succeeding. In front of the peloton, Team SD Worx Protime kept the situation under control. 

The race heated up approximately 50 km from the finish, the peloton tackled the Côte de Villars le Comte at a furious pace and eliminated almost all the sprinters. Immediately after cresting the climb, Amanda Spratt launched a solo attack in pursuit of the race leaders.  

On the Côte de Vulliens the group of breakaway riders completely shattered and Nikola Noskova attempted a solo attack before being caught by Spratt, Eraso and Rijnbeek. The four riders gave the peloton quite a hard time and were only caught 6 km from the finish thanks to the great efforts of the EF Education Oatly team. 

As expected, everything was decided on the final climb, where the peloton lost more and more riders. Lorena Wiebes managed to match the pace of climbers like Demi Vollering and made the difference in the final 200 meters, thus securing her fifth stage victory at the Tour de France Femmes. 

Approximately 1 km from the finish, Letizia Paternoster and Elisa Balsamo were involved in a crash and had to say goodbye to their dreams of victory. The final climb also caused the first gaps among the general classification contenders, with riders like Paula Blasi, Antonia Niedermaier, and Dominika Włodarczyk losing around twenty seconds.  

Tomorrow the Tour de France Femmes will restart from Aigle and arrive in Geneva after 149 km, another demanding day with 5 categorized climbs but which will finish 40 km before the final climb. 

FINISHING ORDER

1  Wiebes Lorena Team SD Worx-Protime 03:29:11

2  Le Court Kim AG Insurance-Soudal Team + 00

3  Vollering Demi FDJ United-SUEZ 110 + 00

4  Pieterse Puck Fenix-Premier Tech + 00

5  Rüegg Noemi EF Education-Oatly + 00

6  Longo Borghini Elisa UAE Team L'IMAD + 00

7  Niewiadoma-Phinney Katarzyna CANYON//SRAM + 00

8  Ferrand-Prevot Pauline Team Visma | Lease a Bike +00

9 Kerbaol Cédrine EF Education-Oatly + 00

10 Reusser Marlen Movistar Team + 00