Dutch sprinter Lorena Wiebes won the first stage of the women’s Tour de France on Sunday July 24 in Paris and is wearing the first yellow jersey of this women’s Grande Boucle. Wiebes was more powerful than her compatriot Marianne Vos to win on the Champs-Elysées where Belgian Lotte Kopecky took third place in the final sprint.
Oranje legend Marianne Vos, triple world champion (2006, 2012 and 2013), started the sprint from afar to try to win on the Parisian avenue, as in 2014 when she won the first edition of the Course by The Tour on these same cobblestones. But Wiebes, well placed in the final bend, was not surprised in this twelfth lap of the circuit around the Tuileries gardens and on the avenue des Champs-Elysées, which the men will take at the start of the evening.
A supersonic season
“The girls did an amazing job, praised Wiebes at the end of the 82 kilometers. I was able to accelerate again to pass Marianne on the line. At 23, the DSM rocket already signs the 52nd success of his career, the 16th this season. Only Italian world champion Elisa Balsamo was able to deprive her of success in a sprint this year, and only twice. But the wearer of the rainbow jersey, less well positioned, could not defend her chances on Sunday (7th).
Thanks to the game of bonuses, Wiebes has a four-second lead in the general classification over Vos before the second stage between Meaux and Provins on Monday July 25 (136.4 km) where they will only be 143 at the start. The Belgian Alana Castrique (Cofidis team) was forced to retire after a fall about ten kilometers from the finish. Like a handover, Jeannie Longo, winner of three editions, the last of which with the Tour de France designation in 1989, accompanied race director Marion Rousse at the time of the actual start on Sunday July 24.