Lorena Wiebes wins after convincing sprint, yellow jersey wearer Lotte Kopecky third

Lorena Wiebes wins after convincing sprint, yellow jersey wearer Lotte Kopecky third

"I wanted to show that I was the fastest"

25/07/2023

Lorena Wiebes took Team SD Worx's second stage victory in this Tour de France Femmes in Montignac-Lascaux with a convincing sprint. This is also the 50th win of the year for Team SD Worx. Yellow jersey wearer Lotte Kopecky pulled off the sprint perfectly for Wiebes and still finished handsomely in third herself, taking away four bonification seconds. "Lotte provided the perfect lead-out. When I felt Marianne Vos coming past me, I knew it was time to attack. I am happy to be immediately successful in the first bunch sprint of this Tour," Wiebes said. 

In the third stage of the Tour de France Femmes, courageous attacker Julie van de Velde seemed to make it. Buoyed by a chasing peloton, the Belgian was not caught until two hundred metres from the line. Thanks in part to a long lead-out by Kopecky, Wiebes was launched perfectly. 

Wiebes: "Lotte provided the perfect lead-out. I already saw off in her wheel, but she launched me fine. I felt Marianne Vos coming up, then I knew it was time to attack. Fortunately, I managed to remount her. I am very happy to finish straight away at the first sprint opportunity and thus win my third Tour stage in my career."

"There are tough days ahead, where we wanted to keep Demi Vollering in good position. Therefore, we wanted to save energy and see what the other teams would do. I know DSM's racing style from last year and knew they would stick to their plan. You always have to finish someone else's plate before you start yours. It's nice that we already have two stage wins under our belt, maa winning the Tour de France Femmes obviously remains the main goal."

Thanks to her third place, Lotte Kopecky increases her lead in the general classification by four seconds. "I am happy that Lorena wins this stage. It's a luxury that we can share it like this within the team. It was all hands on deck in the final. Julie van de Velde was really strong. I was shocked that it took so long to catch her, because Team dsm-firmenich was chasing her in the final. When my lead-out was over, I kept sprinting to get the maximum out of it."

Lorena Wiebes thus signed for her 50th win this season. "This group is super attuned to each other," said the European champion after adding the 'golden' victory to the team's record. "It's give and take at Team SD Worx and we just ride full for each other. Fifty is super nice, but I hope it doesn't stop here. Hopefully at the end of this round we can take home the best jersey."

Read also

Your browser is out-of-date!

Update your browser to view this website correctly. Update my browser now

×