Tour de France Femmes: Lorena Wiebes powers to stage 2 sprint victory as late-race soloist Riejanne Markus is caught close to the line

143 riders took the start in Aigle, home to the UCI headquarters, for a 147.9km stage with five classified climbs on the way to Geneva. Despite the climbs, the stage was expected to end in a mass sprint.

In sunny weather and high temperatures, there were several attempts to break away, but it took a long time for a break to be established. The first two climbs were contested by the peloton, with Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) first atop the third-category Côte de Chexbres and Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease a Bike) winning the fourth-category Côte de Savigny.

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Only after the live broadcast started with 98km to go did the attacks start again, with Eline Jansen (VolkerWessels) making the first move. She was followed by Yuliia Biriukova (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) and Carlotta Cipressi (Human Powered Health), with Eva Comte (Cofidis) and Anouska Koster (Uno-X Mobility) bridging after a brief chase.

Comte won the QOM sprint on the Côte de Cossonay, two minutes ahead of the peloton, and at the intermediate sprint in Lavigny with 59km to go, the gap had gone out to 2:51 minutes as SD Worx-Protime were the only team chasing in the peloton. Visma-Lease a Bike, Canyon-SRAM, and Fenix-Premier Tech all sat back, refusing to help in the chase only to see Wiebes beat them in the sprint.

The early breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images)

Nonetheless, the gap had been reduced to 1:18 minutes atop the short, steep Côte de Bougy-Villars where the break fell apart as Koster, Comte, and Jansen went for the mountain points, leaving Biriukova and Cipressi behind.

At the foot of the Côte de Mont-sur-Rolle, the gap was down to 40 seconds, and an attack Célia Gery (FDJ United-Suez) opened the gates for a flurry of moves on the climb. After the descent, Gery, Nina Berton (EF Education-Suez), Sarah Van Dam (Visma-Lease a Bike), Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek), and Sara Casasola (Fenix-Premier Tech) joined Koster, Comte, and Jansen to form a front group of eight riders.

They were only 15 seconds ahead of the peloton, though, and the group did not cooperate well. 41km from the line, Berton attacked into an unclassified 4km climb but was closed down by Gery, then Comte made one last effort to stay ahead. She got a small gap, and after the other seven riders were reeled in, Markus attacked out of the peloton, bridging to Comte halfway up the climb and soon leaving her behind.

Riejanne Markus in a late-race breakaway on stage 2 (Image credit: Getty Images)

Markus forged on at full speed, and by the time SD Worx-Protime had gotten themselves organised again with 34km to go, she was almost a minute ahead. The chase was briefly interrupted when Nienke Vinke (SD Worx-Protime) took a wrong turn while leading the peloton, and Markus had 1:12 minutes in hand with 26.5km to go, pedalling almost metronomically.

SD Worx-Protime’s GC leader Anna van der Breggen eventually joined the paceline as well to help the chase, but Markus was still 39 seconds up with 15km to go. 6km from the line, already on the road along the shores of Lake Geneva, Markus was still 30 seconds ahead, and with 3.5km to go, the gap was still 19 seconds, and only Kopecky remained to chase for Wiebes.

When Kopecky swung off, she had reduced the gap to 12 seconds, and Liv AlUla Jayco, Canyon-SRAM, EF Education-Oatly, and Picnic PostNL took over. Markus was five seconds ahead under the flamme rouge but was finally caught 450m from the finish.

Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco) led through the last corner with 300m to go, her sprinter Letizia Paternoster on her wheel, but Wiebes accelerated out of the turn from seventh position and launched her irresistible sprint along the barriers on the right-hand side of the road, quickly pulling ahead and winning the stage in style. Balsamo came from behind to take second place with Vos following in third. Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance-Soudal) finished third, Paternoster took fifth place.

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Stage 2

Position

Rider (Country) Team

Time Gap

1

Lorena Wiebes (Ned) SD Worx-Protime

3:42:08

2

Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Lidl-Trek

Row 1 – Cell 2

3

Marianne Vos (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike

Row 2 – Cell 2

4

Shari Bossuyt (Bel) AG Insurance-Soudal

Row 3 – Cell 2

5

Letizia Paternoster (Ita) Liv AlUla Jayco

Row 4 – Cell 2

6

Josie Nelson (GBr) Picnic PostNL

Row 5 – Cell 2

7

Zoe Backstedt (GBr) Canyon-SRAM

Row 6 – Cell 2

8

Malwina Mul (Pol) Cofidis Women Team

Row 7 – Cell 2

9

Noemi Rüegg (Swi) EF Education-Oatly

Row 8 – Cell 2

10

Linda Riedmann (Ger) Lotto-Intermarché

Row 9 – Cell 2

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General classification after stage 2

Position

Rider (Country) Team

Time Gap

1

Lorena Wiebes (Ned) SD Worx-Protime

7:10:59

2

Kimberley Le Court- Pienaar (Mri) AG Insurance-Soudal

0:00:14

3

Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ United-SUEZ

0:00:16

4

Noemi Rüegg (Swi) EF Education-Oatly

0:00:20

5

Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) UAE Team L’IMAD

“

6

Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol) Canyon-SRAM

“

7

Cedrine Kerbaol (Fra) EF Education-Oatly

“

8

Puck Pieterse (Ned) Fenix-Premier Tech

“

9

Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike

“

10

Marlen Reusser (Swi) Movistar Team

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