A visual feast celebrating the women’s edition of the greatest race of them all.
All-smiles from the defending champ on the opening day. Following the broadcast, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot genuinely appeared to be having fun, laughing and smiling during the stage.Stage one rolled out more like a one-day classic than a Grand Tour opener. Four riders, Rijnbeek, Mahe, Eraso and Noskova formed the break early – were later joined by Amanda Spratt – and were only reeled in some 6km from the finish. The closing kilometers and the battle for leadout positioning was real.Kim Le Court-Pienaar rode a perfect finishing kilometer up the final climb but nobody can match the kick and speed of Lorena Wiebes who took the sprint and the first yellow jersey of the race.Lake Geneva, what a place for a bike ride!L: Riejanne Markus nearly stole Stage Two from the peloton with a brilliant solo effort off the front. | R: Once her team had done the work to reel in Riejanne, Lorena Wiebes exploded out of the bunch to take back-to-back wins by a few bike lengths. With reportedly more accessibility than the men’s race, the fans are getting full value for their efforts to attend.With the GC favorites marking each other and resting their legs for Tuesday’s Time Trial, Sigrid Haugset stole the stage win and yellow with a long-range solo effort on Monday. What a ride!Marlen Reusser, fastest on Tuesday’s TT and into yellow. That’s three different riders in yellow after just four stages which is exactly the kind of racing that makes this one of the best Grand Tours of the year. The crowds are as big, if not bigger than ever before. With at least eight riders in the running for the final GC podium – many say the women’s race is more exciting than the men’s.Stage Five, temperatures are still high and there’s a lot of climbing on the menu.Skinsuits, aero socks, aero gloves and climbing wheels.With repeat attacks on the final steeps of the brutal day, only Reusser and Niewiadoma-Phinney could hold Vollering’s wheel. Stage Six was another big vert day.What a place to ride a bike!In professional racing, nobody ‘deserves a win’. The sport is simply too brutal to care about who deserves or should get a win. It has to be worked for, relentlessly. However, considering how much Kim Le Court-Pienaar has contributed to the action it simply wouldn’t have been right if a stage win eluded her this year. She’s been on the attack and animated the racing since day one and for that reason there’s something very deserved about her win on Stage Six. Chapeau Kim! Friday and the 146.8km roll to the top of the giant of Provence, Ventoux.Kasia Niewiadoma Phinney charging to an emphatic win on the Queen Stage and securing yellow in the process. A day she – and fans of the Femmes race – will never forget.“I just know this victory goes to so many people who were with me along this very long road. Honestly, I’m just so tired and so blown away with what just happened.” – KasiaThe road to Nice.Loes Adegeest and Maëva Squiban were over six minutes up the road, until the GC teams reeled them back.Demi Vollering used the final climb of the day – a mere 400m punch with ghastly gradients around 13% at times – to force a gap on her rivals and slide into the race leader’s yellow jersey.The final day. Vollering is in yellow with a mere eight seconds on second-placed Niewiadoma Phinney. On the menu, four laps of a tricky circuit in Nice.A spectacular alternate to Paris for a final stage.The expected duel delivered much entertainment. Demi outpowered Kasia and rode to a commanding solo stage win, securing the overall.Demi celebrates her second victory at the Tour. Chapeau!
