Lorena Wiebes sprinted to victory on the opening stage of the Tour de France Femmes in Lausanne on Saturday to claim the race leader’s yellow jersey.
The 27-year-old Dutch rider beat Mauritian Kim Le Court into second with European champion Demi Vollering third.
Sprint specialist Wiebes, a two-time former European champion, leads the overall standings by four seconds from Le Court and six seconds to Vollering thanks to bonus seconds on the line.
This was Wiebes’s 10th Tour stage victory overall and the 132nd victory of her career.
Amongst the likely overall contenders, Vollering stole a march on some of her rivals by taking four bonus seconds on the line.
That gave her an advantage over the last two winners of this race, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Kasia Niewiadoma, who finished eighth and ninth respectively in the same time as the stage winner.
Other potential contenders, Paula Blasi and Anna van der Breggen conceded an extra eight seconds to Vollering, coming home in 12th and 13th.
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Four riders had escaped up the road early on in the 138km stage around Lausanne.
Czech Nikola Noskova, Spaniard Idoia Eraso, Dutch rider Maud Rijnbeek and Frenchwoman Oceane Mahe built up a maximum lead of six minutes but they were reeled in 6km from the finish.
Sunday’s second stage remains in Switzerland and is a hilly 147.9km from Aigle to Geneva.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
