Key events
And who’s wearing which jersey:
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Yellow jersey – Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 4hrs 37mins 25secs
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Green jersey – Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), 71pts
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Polka dot jersey – Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez), 10pts
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White jersey – Julie Bego (Cofidis), 4hrs 38mins 13secs
Here’s a reminder of the top ten on GC after stage two:
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Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 4hrs 37mins 25secs
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Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), 4hrs 37mins 25secs
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Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike), +6secs
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Katarzyna Niewiadoma Phinney (Canyon/SRAM), +10secs
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Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), +13secs
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Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), +15secs
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Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx Protime), +15secs
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Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck), +19secs
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Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek), +19secs
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Chloé Dygert (Canyon/SRAM), +19secs
Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) of Mauritius finished third in yesteday’s stage so took the overall leader’s yellow jersey. The Dutch rider Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), who wore the leader’s jersey after winning Saturday’s opening stage, finished fifth and surrendered her overall lead to Le Court Pienaar.
Stage three is the second longest stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. Here is the route profile:
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Stage three: La Gacilly to Angers, 163km
Here’s a look at today’s stage, Monday 28 July: La Gacilly to Angers, 163.5km, with the race director of the Tour de France Femmes, Marion Rousse:
La Gacilly hosted both the 2023 Tour de l’Avenir and this year’s Tour de Bretagne. This stage start in front of the covered market is a logical and well deserved continuation of that trend. A little further on, memories of Tour stage starts in 1983 and 2004 will be rekindled at Châteaubriant, which is home to a well-renowned club and an operational velodrome. After racing on country roads with no significant difficulties, the riders are very likely to serve up a bunch sprint for the fans in Angers.
Preamble
Today’s 163.5km flat stage is being heralded as a day for the sprinters, with flat roads to Angers resulting in a classic bunch sprint. There’s a category four climb (1.7km at 4.6%) at 34km in and an intermediate sprint later on, at 123.9km. However, the final run to the finish line is technical, with a number of sharp corners in the last kilometre. The final is technical, though, with multiple sharp corners in the last 1.2 km of the stage.
Eyes will be on SD Worx-Protime’s Lorena Wiebes after she was denied a sprint finish on stage two by Mavi García’s breakaway. Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), Ally Wollaston (FDJ-Suez) and Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) could be Wiebes’s main challengers. I would love to know your thoughts on the race so far and any predictions you have for today’s stage – you can get in touch via the email linked at the top of the page.
The riders will begin with a neutralised start at 1.50pm CET/12.50pm BST, with the finish expected at approximateLy 5.30pm CET/4.30pm BST. While we wait for the peloton to get going, here’s a recap of yesterday’s events: