Charlotte Kool breezes to sprint victory on stage one of Tour de France Femmes

Twenty-four hours after Harrie Lavreysen confirmed himself as the fastest sprinter in the Olympic velodrome , his compatriot Charlotte Kool continued the winning streak for the Netherlands, sprinting to victory in stage one of the Tour de France Femmes in The Hague.

In what was expected to be a three‑way battle between the Dutch trio of Kool, Marianne Vos and Lorena Wiebes, Kool easily proved the fastest, taking both Vos, of Visma‑Lease a bike, and SD Worx Protime’s Wiebes by surprise to claim the first yellow jersey of this year’s race.

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In a disorganised sprint, in which a mechanical issue put Wiebes on the back foot, Kool came across the line ahead of Uno-X Mobility’s Anniina Ahtosalo and Elisa Balsamo of Lidl-Trek.

“It’s the best day of my life,” Kool, riding for dsm-firmenich PostNL, said after the stage. But while the 25‑year‑old rider was enjoying the first day of racing in the week-long Tour, others, despite the flat nature of the course, were not.

On what seemed a relatively benign course, there were incidents almost immediately when a crash in the neutral zone led to the British rider Natalie Grinczer falling and then abandoning, after fighting for survival for much of the stage. A worse fate befell the Tashkent City Women’s team, who had a torrid first day and lost four of their seven riders. But there were other big names missing from the start line.

Lotte Kopecky, who raced in the final day of competition on Sunday in the Olympic velodrome and was second overall to her SD Worx Protime teammate Demi Vollering in last year’s Tour de France Femmes, was one of those who prioritised the Olympics over travelling to the start in Rotterdam. After winning bronze in the last world championship the Belgian rider, second overall in the women’s Giro this year, could finish only fourth in the Olympic omnium, a disappointing result that may make her reflect on that decision.

Vollering’s chances for overall success here – she is the favourite – were also enhanced when Elisa Longo Borghini, winner of the women’s Giro d’Italia, pulled out because of the painful aftermath of a recent crash while out training.

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Borghini’s absence vaulted her Lidl-Trek teammate Gaia Realini into the status of team leader. The 23-year-old Italian is an outstanding climber and, given the demands of the final Alpine stages of this year’s Tour, may prove a thorn in Vollering’s side. Realini has finished third in the women’s Giro and challenged Vollering in the mountain stages of the 2023 Vuelta Femenina. The hairpins of the final climb of the race, Alpe d’Huez, may lead to another showdown between them. However, Realini’s campaign did not get off to an ideal start. She was another of those, alongside her British teammate Lizzie Deignan, to take a tumble during the stage, although both made it back to the main peloton.

Before the final mountainous weekend, however, Tuesday features more racing in the flatlands around Rotterdam, with a day split into two stages. In the morning, the peloton will tackle a swift 67.9km pan-flat road stage and, in the afternoon, race in a 6.3km individual time trial, again on roads lacking anything steeper than a speed bump.

Such demanding days have not been imposed on riders in the Tour de France for many years, due to their unpopularity. Famously, in 1978, the feisty five-time Tour winner Bernard Hinault led a riders’ go-slow in protest at a split stage to Valence d’Agen, but there is little likelihood of a repetition in Rotterdam.