{"id":11611,"date":"2026-05-05T05:27:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T05:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/11611\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T05:27:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T05:27:15","slug":"its-been-a-perfect-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/11611\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s been a perfect start\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nFrom Roubaix breakthrough to Grand Tour leaderKoch arrived in Spain on the back of the biggest result of her career. Her victory at Paris-Roubaix<\/a> came from a three-rider move that survived the decisive cobbled sectors before heading into the velodrome, where she outsprinted Marianne Vos to take a shock win ahead of Pauline Ferrand-Prevot.That performance marked a shift in expectations. Stage 2 of La Vuelta Femenina<\/a> suggested it was no one-off.FDJ set the terms of the race<\/p>\n

The stage itself was shaped long before the final metres. With a breakaway up the road and no bonus seconds available at the intermediate sprint, Koch\u2019s FDJ United – SUEZ team chose to increase the pressure later in the stage, turning the run-in into a more selective contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew it was going to be a hard stage, but we have a strong team here,\u201d she said. \u201cWe wanted to properly start racing after the intermediate sprint. As there was a break, there were no seconds for grabs anymore at the sprint, yet we wanted to make the race hard into the final, as it was technical and there was this final climb.\u201d<\/p>\n

The finale did not unfold cleanly however, even for the German. \u201cIt was not a perfect sprint for me,\u201d Koch said. \u201cI was a bit too far off the front, and then they stopped sprinting right in front of me, so the bunch came from behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

She found herself briefly following the ideal wheel, before the sprint broke apart. \u201cI could begin the sprint in Lotte Kopecky\u2019s wheel, but then she also had some bad luck. I\u2019m not sure of what happened exactly, but she couldn\u2019t sprint anymore and I had to go around her. It was a bit of a messy sprint, but I\u2019m happy with my second place.\u201d<\/p>\n

That second place proved enough. With Stage 1 winner Noemi Ruegg crashing out earlier in the finale, the red jersey changed hands.<\/p>\n

A different kind of success<\/p>\n

Unlike Roubaix, where Koch took the win outright, this was a result built on consistency and positioning across two stages. \u201cI have so much fun racing with my team and, if you enjoy what you do and you are in a good group, it works out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Now leading the race, the focus shifts quickly to what comes next. \u201cI hope I can successfully defend La Roja in the next stages.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a rider who began the spring as an outsider, the trajectory is clear. A Monument win has been followed by the leader\u2019s jersey in a Grand Tour, and the sense of momentum shows no sign of slowing.<\/p>\n

La Vuelta Femenina GC Top 10 after Stage 2:RnkPrev\u25bc\u25b2RiderTeamTime12\u25b21\u00a0Koch\u00a0FranziskaFDJ United – SUEZ5:49:24237\u25b235\u00a0Bossuyt\u00a0ShariAG Insurance – Soudal Team0:0633-\u00a0Kopecky\u00a0LotteTeam SD Worx – Protime0:10425\u25b221\u00a0Muzic\u00a0\u00c9vitaFDJ United – SUEZ0:1254\u25bc1\u00a0Adegeest\u00a0LoesLidl – Trek0:1466-\u00a0Squiban\u00a0MaevaUAE Team ADQ0:16711\u25b24\u00a0van der Breggen\u00a0AnnaTeam SD Worx – Protime,,89\u25b21\u00a0Trinca Colonel\u00a0MonicaLiv AlUla Jayco,,917\u25b28\u00a0Lippert\u00a0LianeMovistar Team,,1013\u25b23\u00a0Blasi\u00a0PaulaUAE Team ADQ,,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From Roubaix breakthrough to Grand Tour leaderKoch arrived in Spain on the back of the biggest result…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1428,4744,8897,8898,30,3393],"class_list":{"0":"post-11611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-paris","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-franziska-koch","10":"tag-la-vuelta-femenina","11":"tag-noemi-ruegg","12":"tag-paris","13":"tag-paris-roubaix-femmes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}