Kool surges to Stage 1 victory on home soil, Wiebes misses out

Charlotte Kool surged to victory on Stage 1 of the Tour de France Femmes thanks to an impressive sprint display, as Lorena Wiebes missed out.

Kool was set up perfectly by dsm-firmenich PostNL teammates with Franziska Koch, Rachele Barbieri and Pfeiffer Georgi providing the perfect lead out for the Dutch rider.

Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), the favourite going into the stage, suffered a mechanical issue in the final metres which saw her unable to launch a sprint, eventually finishing 41st. Blanka Vas was the only SD Worx-Protime rider to finish in the top 10 on the opening stage while Vollering finished 35th.

In addition to the stage being Kool’s first victory at the Tour de France Femmes, she also became the first rider to win a stage in the women’s edition outside of France, which aptly went to a Dutch rider, and a Dutch team, on Dutch roads.

History was made by dsm-firmenich PostNL as they became the first team to ever win the first stage at both the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes, as Romain Bardet triumphed earlier in the year at the same point in the men’s race.

Kool also earned herself the green jersey with the points available on the finish line. Marianne Vos (Visma Lease a Bike) will be the wearer into stage two after she won the intermediate sprint to finish second in the points classification.

The win saw Kool take the first yellow jersey of the Tour de France Femmes ahead of a second day which will feature two stages. Cristina Tonetti (Laboral Kutxa – Fundacion Euskadi) snapped up the Queen of the Mountains jersey as a solo breakaway furnished her with the polka dots that she will carry into stage four, with no QoM points available in stages two and three.

Laboral Kutxa – Fundacion Euskadi were the protagonists of multiple attacks during the early stages of the race before Tonetti broke free with just under 80km to go, which saw her ride solo for around 20km.

The day was off to a nervous start in Rotterdam before the stage began with multiple issues arising in the neutral zone, including a crash which took down 2023 stage winner Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) among others.

The bunch stayed together for the opening kilometres after the flag was dropped before Iurani Blanco’s attack kicked off proceedings at the 104km-to-go mark, and she was joined by Agnieszka Skalniak-Sojka (Canyon//SRAM Racing) and Gaia Masetti (AG Insurance – Soudal Team). The three-woman breakaway was swiftly closed down by dsm-firmenich PostNL.

A large crash disrupted the middle of the peloton at 70km to go and took down multiple riders including Lidl-Trek’s Lizzie Deignan and Olympic time trial gold medallist Grace Brown.

All were away swiftly, but Lidl-Trek faced further issues as Gaia Realini suffered a mechanical before she was swept up by Deignan. The two dropped to a minute behind the peloton, but were able to make their way back to remain in contention.

With Tonetti taking the first QoM points ahead of the peloton, the pressure was on for those to take the reaming point on offer. Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco) won the sprint from the bunch to take the sole point and put herself into second in the QoM classification.

Tonetti was caught not long after the Maasdeltatunnel climb, and next came the intermediate sprint at Groeneweg. Vos took maximum points in the sprint with the peloton now back as one, followed by Roseman-Gannon, Marthe Truyen (Fenix-Deceuninck), Anna Henderson (Visma Lease a Bike), and Fem van Empel (Visma Lease a Bike) to complete the top five.

A few riders were dispersed from the peloton including Olympic road race champion Kristen Faulkner (EF-Oatly-Cannondale), who swapped bikes, and Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) who went down in a crash, but both made their way back to venture into the final 20km.

The peloton stayed together for the remainder of the race and teams began to prepare for the sprint as the final kilometres were winding up.

Many of the big names were in contention going into the final kilometre, but it was Kool who triumphed after a stellar effort from her team to put her in prime position to take the stage. Wiebes suffered a misfortunate chain mechanical issue which caused her to drop back as the sprinters were preparing to launch, and Kool powered past Wiebes’ SD Worx-Protime teammate Barbara Guarischi.

Kool covered her mouth as she crossed the line in The Hague in disbelief, and said after the race: “It’s unbelievable. It’s a dream coming true. It was not an easy season but this is where it was all about. I want to thank so many people like my trainer who keeps believing me and all my people close around me, this is unbelievable.

“It was really hectic but I like it. I kept on thinking okay I like hectic, I like chaos, and then I went so early and I thought it’s too long and it hurt so bad, but it was enough in the end. No words.

“This is the best day of my life. Everything comes together, it’s really special.”

Closely behind were Anniina Ahtosalo (Uno-X Mobility), who earned the white jersey, Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek, Lotta Henttala (EF-Oatly-Cannondale), and Vos to round off the top five.

Tuesday will see two stages take place on the same day with a 69.7 km route from Dordrecht to Rotterdam making up stage two, before the only time trial of the Tour takes place in the afternoon in Rotterdam for stage three.