Lorena Wiebes wins Tour de France Femmes opener in Lausanne, takes yellow jersey after Giro disqualification
After a disqualification in the Giro d'Italia for a too-light bike, Lorena Wiebes used the setback as fuel to win the Tour de France Femmes opener in Lausanne and pull on the yellow jersey.
The stage
The fifth edition of the Tour de France Femmes began on Saturday with a 138-kilometre loop from Lausanne to Lausanne. The route packed four categorised climbs, including the finish on the Côte Saint-François, a fourth-category ascent with sections above 10 percent. Lorena Wiebes of SD Worx-Protime proved strongest on the uphill finish, launching her sprint early and holding off Kim Le Court of Mauritius and 2023 overall winner Demi Vollering. The victory delivered the yellow jersey, the green points jersey, and the 131st professional win of Wiebes' career.
Swiss riders Noemi Rüegg and Marlen Reusser placed fifth and tenth respectively. Reusser crashed roughly 21 kilometres from the finish when a Movistar teammate slid out in a corner, but she quickly regained contact with the peloton and lost no time on general classification.
Giro disqualification as fuel
Wiebes arrived at the Tour carrying the sting of a disqualification from the Giro d'Italia Donne in late May. After winning the opening stage there, her bike was weighed by UCI commissaires at 6.78 kilograms, 20 grams below the 6.8 kg minimum. She was stripped of the result and the pink jersey. Team SD Worx-Protime is still challenging the decision legally, but Wiebes turned the episode into a training motivator.
Of course, that gave extra fire. And people who say I can't handle this kind of finish, that always gives extra motivation.
Team manager Danny Stam saw the effect firsthand. "She wanted to set that whole situation right," he said before the stage, adding that the mentality of a sprinter makes them "a bit angrier and more fiery" in such moments.
How the race unfolded
The stage was animated from the start. FDJ-Suez drove the pace on the early climbs, shedding pure sprinters including Charlotte Kool, who had earlier won the intermediate sprint from the peloton. At the intermediate sprint after 73 kilometres, Idoia Eraso took the points uncontested from a four-rider breakaway. Later, Lotte Kopecky was among those distanced on a climb.
- Stage 1 begins in Lausanne
- Idoia Eraso wins intermediate sprint
- Marlen Reusser crashes but quickly rejoins peloton
- Demi Vollering attacks on Côte Saint-François, Wiebes follows
- Lorena Wiebes wins the stage and takes yellow jersey
On the final ascent of the Côte Saint-François, Kim Le Court set the tempo before Demi Vollering attacked inside the last kilometre. Wiebes clung to the group and, as she put it, found a gap to launch her sprint. "It came out of my little toe," she said. No one could match her acceleration.
I am very proud to wear this jersey and, maybe, win tomorrow in yellow, that would be really great.
What's next
The Tour remains in Switzerland for stage 2 on Sunday, a 148-kilometre route from Aigle to Geneva. Five classified climbs of the third and fourth categories dot the profile, but the final 50 kilometres are almost flat, setting up a probable mass sprint. Wiebes, already in yellow and green, is the clear favourite. She said the team's other goal is a strong general classification with Anna van der Breggen. The race continues through seven more stages before concluding in Nice next Sunday.
