Vos wins La Course with perfect sprint

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World champion Marianne Vos (Rabo-Liv) produced the sprint of her life to win the first-ever edition of the La Course on the Champs-Élysées, as women finally got to share the spotlight alongside the men on the final day of the Tour de France.

"La Course's really something awesome for women's cycling, but it's just one step towards the recognition we deserve. I'd like to thank the organisers again. I hope everyone who saw us today realised the peloton's getting stronger and stronger. I've already won most major races, and La Course is one I just had to add to my palmarès. It's also thanks to my team that I won today. Yet the more you win, the more you want to win."

Vos rode a clever race, letting the many attacks cancel each other out before she launched her sprint. Kirsten Wild (Giant-Shimano) got back up to the front after a late puncture and started her sprint at the same time as Vos. However, despite her superior power and sprinting skills, she could not match Vos and eased up near the line, and banged her handlebars in disappointment.

Canada's Leah Kirchmann (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) was third in the sprint, with Italy's Barbara Guarischi (Alé Cipollini) fourth ahead of her US teammate Shelley Olds.

A late crash saw French national champion Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Rabo-Liv) and Britain's Elisabeth Armitstead (Boels Dolmans) taken out of the sprint.

Round and round

The women’s return to the Tour de France - their first since 2009 - was not a stage race but one-day shot at glory, 13 laps of the well-known Champs Elysees circuit course.. Many of the top names were there, eager to shine in a race which they hope will be repeated, bigger and better, in the coming years.

The sun was shining, giving the women much better weather than the men have had much of their race. Things kicked off promptly just before 1:00 pm.

The attacks started very early, with Annemiek Van Vleuten (Rabo Liv) being one of the first to go. But the pack refused to let anyone get away, and there was never a gap of more than 20 seconds.

Elin Van Dijk (Boels Dolman), Chantal Blaak (SpecializedLuluLemon), Alena Amialiusik (Astana BePink), Rachel Neylan (Australia) all tried to jump, but none were successful.

It had been expected that the day would end in a mass sprint and about half way through the race it became clear that no one would be allowed to establish a breakaway.

Things finally picked up in the last lap. The pace increased and the field stretched out. A crash with some 4km to go took down the Mexican national champion, and the crash at the flamme rouge with Ferrand Prevot and Armitstead cut the sprinting field down to 30 or so.

As they neared the finish, there were four ahead. Wild went first, but Vos turned on the power to take the win. Kirchmann moved up to power her way into third.

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