On the first stage of the Tour de France Femmes, Marianne Vos (Team Jumbo-Visma) finished fourth after a challenging final where Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx) attacked on the Côte de Durtol and soloed to the line. Vos knew it would be hard to reel her in again from the moment the Belgian champion attacked.
"I saw it happening, but nobody could respond. I ended up two groups behind, and we tried to get back to the group in front of us," Vos told Cyclingnews after the finish.
On the fast descent towards Clermont-Ferrand, Vos joined forces with sprinters Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx) and Charlotte Kool (Team DSM-Firmenich) and got help from Kool's teammate Pfeiffer Georgi who worked hard to close the gap to the group of GC riders in front of them.
"I found out that Wiebes and Kool were also there, and Pfeiffer Georgi pulled us towards the second group. But we heard on the radio that Kopecky was taking time, she was the strongest today," Vos acknowledged Kopecky's performance.
When Vos and the other sprinters reached the first chase group with 1800 metres to go, the stage win was gone, but there were still points and bonus seconds to sprint for on the slightly uphill drag to the line. Vos went on the wheel of Wiebes who was led out by Demi Vollering, but Wiebes had superior speed, and Vos lost out on third place when Kool passed her just before the finish line.
"In the sprint, Wiebes was just too strong, and then Kool passed me too. It was a hard sprint, and those girls are fast," Vos finished.
