Kimberley Le Court has regained her yellow jersey in the Tour de France Femmes from Marianne Vos. The rider from Mauritius won the sprint from the group of favorites with dominance, although Demi Vollering came close on the finish line.
Le Court, who already wore the yellow jersey in the second stage, was left with six other favorites in the finish town of Guéret. She started the sprint first and dared to celebrate early. Vollering made a strong push, but couldn’t pass Le Court.
Anna van der Breggen finished third, ahead of reigning winner Katarzyna Niewiadoma. In the general classification, Le Court is eighteen seconds ahead of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and 23 seconds ahead of Vollering. Niewiadoma and Van der Breggen are also within half a minute of Le Court.
Vos finished more than half a minute behind the first group, in eighth place. She has dropped to 6th place in the general classification, 37 seconds behind the yellow jersey.
Wiebes and Vos Miss the Break
Anneke Dijkstra (VolkerWessels) joined the day’s breakaway 100 kilometers from the end, which was initiated by the Italian Francesca Barale. Later, Dijkstra and Barale were joined by Alison Jackson and Catalina Anais Soto. The Canadian and Chilean riders had already been on an adventure together in Monday’s stage. Later, the Australian Brodie Chapman also joined.
Elisa Balsamo and Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner had to abandon the stage due to physical discomfort. Meanwhile, the group of five in front gained a lead of over four minutes. However, Dijkstra, Barale, Jackson, Soto, and Chapman soon had to give up ground after Liane Lippert’s Movistar team started leading at the front.
Dijkstra also had to drop on the Côte de Chabannes, the first climb of the day. Chapman held on the longest in front and was joined by others after a number of riders jumped from the peloton. But they had to admit defeat in the lead-up to the final climb, Le Maupuy (category 3).
Green jersey wearer Lorena Wiebes and her teammate Lotte Kopecky had already had to drop from the peloton. Le Court won the intermediate sprint halfway up Le Maupuy, ahead of Ferrand-Prévot and Niewiadoma. Van der Breggen was the first to reach the top. Vos couldn’t follow and was already about twenty seconds behind the new leading group.
After that, it was still 7 kilometers to the finish line in Guéret. The favorites stayed away, and Vos couldn’t close the gap to the leading group. Van der Breggen tried in the final kilometers, but Le Court had the strongest sprint.
The Tour de Frances Femmes lasts until Sunday. The first serious mountain stage is on Thursday. The 124 kilometers between Clermont-Ferrand and Ambert include five climbs on the menu.