Stage 1 of the Tour de France Femmes was a day that was expected to end in a small bunch sprint but it has seen quite a lot of action. Marlen Reusser abandoned the race, Elisa Longo Borghini lost significant time, and SD Worx was invisible in the finale whilst Marianne Vos took advantage of a perfect tactic from Team Visma | Lease a Bike to take the first yellow jersey.
The opening stage of the race began with a crash still in the neutralized zone, opening up the action on the day in an unexpected way. But with only 78 kilometers on the menu, a breakaway was never really let go. Team Visma | Lease a Bike and Team SD Worx – ProTime had big interestes on the day that was ending atop the Côte de Cadoudal in Plumelec – an ideal finale for the puncheurs.
The big news of the day in terms of the GC fight was perhaps the withdrawal of Marlen Reusser, who seemed to suffer with an health issue that wasn’t fully clear. Otherwise, it was a fully controlled race into the final climb where Visma entered in the front setting up for Marianne Vos. But the team played with this expectation to their favour, and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot instead attacked inside the final kilometer to get a sizeable gap.
Kim Le Court responded behind to try and chase the Frenchwoman but in her wheel was Marianne Vos who then sprinted to victory in the final meters. Le Court was second as Ferrand-Prévot finished third on the day, with gaps behind already built.