Lorena Wiebes storms to second straight Tour de France Femmes stage win in Geneva sprint
The Dutch sprinter extended her overall lead to 14 seconds after a controlled finish, with Elisa Balsamo and Marianne Vos trailing in her wake.
Sprint finish
Lorena Wiebes made it two wins from two stages at the Tour de France Femmes, dominating the bunch sprint in Geneva on Sunday. The SD Worx rider launched her acceleration with 200 metres to go and crossed the line several bike lengths clear of Italian Elisa Balsamo, with Marianne Vos taking third. Temperatures in the Swiss city hovered around 37 degrees as the peloton completed the 147.9-kilometre stage from Aigle.
My teammates, Lotte above all, worked all day and at the end to catch Riejanne, who made it difficult for us. I was able to respond well in the final straight, but I had to work hard for it.
Solo breakaway
Much of the drama came from a late solo move by Riejanne Markus. The Lidl-Trek rider attacked with 40 kilometres remaining, just as an earlier five-rider break was being neutralised. Markus, a two-time Dutch time trial champion, built a lead of 1 minute 15 seconds at the 25-kilometre mark. SD Worx committed its entire team to the chase, with Lotte Kopecky eventually cutting the gap to 10 seconds inside the final six kilometres. Markus was finally swallowed up 400 metres from the line, leaving Wiebes without a lead-out but with enough space to launch her winning sprint.
- Riejanne Markus attacks solo after earlier breakaway is caught
- Markus leads by 1 minute 15 seconds
- Gap reduced to 30 seconds
- Lotte Kopecky leads chase, gap down to 10 seconds
- Markus caught by the peloton
- Wiebes launches sprint, wins by several bike lengths
Wiebes's record
Sunday's victory was the 27-year-old's seventh career stage win at the Tour de France Femmes, extending her record for the modern era. Marianne Vos and Demi Vollering sit joint second on three stage wins each. The numbers behind Wiebes's sprint dominance are stark: she has now won 54 of her last 55 WorldTour bunch sprints. Since a defeat to Charlotte Kool on the Rotterdam stage of the 2024 Tour, she has suffered only two losses, one on the road and one via disqualification at the Giro d'Italia after her bike was found to weigh less than the 6.8-kilogram minimum.
There are no limits for Lorena.
- Lorena Wiebes
- 7
- Marianne Vos
- 3
- Demi Vollering
- 3
General classification and next stage
Wiebes holds a 14-second advantage over Mauritian rider Kim Le Court in the overall standings. Defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot finished 38th and Demi Vollering 34th, both in the same time as the winner. The race leaves Switzerland on Monday for stage 3, which heads into the French Jura and introduces the first major climbing test: the first-category Col du Faucille, an 11.4-kilometre ascent at an average gradient of 6.3%.
