Tour de France Femmes: Lorena Wiebes retains yellow jersey with stage 2 win

Dutch sprinter Lorena Wiebes burst clear in the final 250m to take the second stage of the Tour de France Femmes from Aigle to Geneva in Switzerland.

The race leader, the winner of the green jersey last year, will continue to wear the yellow jersey for Team SD Worx-Protime on Monday after powering to back-to-back victories in the race’s opening two days. Behind her, Elisa Balsamo of Lidl-Trek finished second, while Team Visma-Lease a Bike’s Marianne Vos was third.

In the second Tour de France Femmes Grand Depart to take place beyond French borders after the start of the 2024 edition in Rotterdam, the peloton swept north from Aigle – home of the UCI, cycling’s governing body – around Lac Leman before arriving in Geneva 147.9 kilometers later.

The pack again toyed with multiple breakaways, with Lidl-Trek’s Reijanne Markus putting in a remarkable effort to ride solo off the front in the final 40km only to be caught 500m from the finish line. In the end, the race was only going to one rider, Wiebes, who now has seven Tour de France Femmes stage wins – a record since the race returned in 2022.

The Athletic breaks down the day’s racing.

How to beat a sprinting great like Wiebes?

It would have been almost unprecedented if Wiebes had lost in Geneva. The wearer of the yellow jersey was nailed on for another win, this time in a bunch sprint instead of a reduced pack. Even without being able to compete at the Giro d’Italia, having been disqualified for a bike weight violation just hours after winning the opening stage, she leads the peloton with 18 wins on the road (and two on gravel) this year.

She had played down the idea of another victory in her press conference on Saturday, but her team were determined not to leave anything to chance. SD Worx–Protime’s riders were at the front of the peloton all day.

Dutch rider Lorena Wiebes smiles after winning the second of the Tour de France Femmes’ nine stages. (Nicolas Tucat / AFP via Getty Images)

Towards the end of the stage the team had full control, with four team-mates ahead of their leader but with Lidl-Trek not far behind. Wiebes launched her sprint early, and no one was able to follow.

The 27-year-old is a sprinting great. There are other accomplished sprinters in the peloton, but her dominance this season is akin to five-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar (21 wins this year) on the men’s side. The million dollar question is: how to beat her in a sprint? No one has quite figured it out yet.

Wiebes said winning in the yellow jersey made the victory more special.

“Our team worked really hard for it and our girls were chasing full, full gas in the final to bring back Brianne Markus so then it’s even more beautiful to finish it off in the yellow,” she told reporters.

“Every sprint is quite exciting because if you make one mistake then the sprint is over and you cannot finish it off for the team. So, for me, its exciting every time, and a bit nervous.”

Combative riding breaks up an otherwise predictable day

When the initial breakaway was reeled in at 40km to go, that could have been it until the sprint for the line. But Riejanne Markus had other ideas.

We saw in the first stage how quickly the peloton can close down a break, but the Lidl-Trek rider was strong enough to build a gap of more than a minute going into the final 25km and hold off the rolling tide with less than a kilometer to go.

She attacked alone with a spectacular effort that almost benefited her team, who could conserve energy in the bunch instead of committing to the chase, but Balsamo could finish only second.

It proved once again how important the breakaway is to the enjoyment of a stage. The sight of the lone rider desperately trying to hold on as the crowd roars them towards the line is magical, despite such brave attempts rarely being successful.

Is heat a problem?

The men’s Tour was disrupted by wildfires last month, resulting in the route of both the third stage and the final stage being amended and cut short and fans being asked to stay away from the mountainous finish on stage 3. The suggestion of moving the grand tour calendar away from the summer months was even raised in order to avoid the oppressive temperatures.

Heading into the women’s tour, questions about how climate change and the heat the peloton is facing each day have arisen again. It has been hovering around 95 degrees Fahrenheit (mid-30C) so far in Switzerland, yet it is a case of business as usual for the riders.

Despite the high temperatures, it has been a case of business as usual for the riders. (Nicolas Tucat / AFP via Getty Images)

Many, including last year’s champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, have not expressed strong feelings about the weather, which suggests it has not affected them too much. The ice vests are out and the awnings on team buses extended, but there are no plans yet to alter stages, with the exception of Mont Ventoux. Because of France’s record high temperatures this summer, the Vaucluse department has suggested a rerouting of Friday’s stage.

Crucially, however, if this is to occur it would not eliminate the iconic summit finish. Any decision will not be taken until Tuesday.

“What’s certain is that we’re still going to go up Mont Ventoux,” race director Marion Rousse told reporters on Saturday. “The riders are still going to climb it. However, we are of course at the disposal of the prefecture who will take the decision, and will help with access if necessary.

“The Tour de France is just a bike race. What’s happening in everyday life outside of it is more important.”

What’s coming up Monday?

The third stage, starting in Geneva, takes the peloton north across the border into France and through the Jura mountain range before finishing in the town of Poligny.

There are four categorized climbs for the peloton to contend with and 2,400m of vertical ascent. Three of those appear in the first half of the 156.5-kilometer stage, however, leaving the peloton plenty of time to regroup.

This stage, more than the first two, is ideal for some breakaway action. And it only gets harder from here.