Lorena Wiebes extended her Tour de France Femmes lead with a commanding stage 2 sprint win in Geneva on Sunday.
The SD Worx-Protime rider delivered another display of sprint authority after her team chased down a dangerous late attack. Wiebes launched inside the final 200 metres on the right side of the road. She immediately opened a gap and carried it to the line.
Elisa Balsama of Lidl-Trek finished second, while Marianne Vos of Visma-Lease a Bike took third. The result gave Wiebes a second consecutive stage victory at the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift.
It also marked her first stage win while wearing the maillot jaune. Wiebes had previously raced in yellow, but had not won a Tour stage in the leader’s jersey.
Her 10-second winner’s bonus increased her general classification advantage over Kim Le Court of AG Insurance-Soudal to 14 seconds. Demi Vollering of FDJ United-Suez, the 2023 race winner, remained third overall at 16 seconds.
Lorena Wiebes finishes SD Worx-Protime chase
The 147.9km stage ran from Aigle, home of the UCI, to Geneva. It included more climbing metres than the opening stage, but the flatter finale suited the sprinters.
Attackers still tried to disrupt the expected bunch finish. Eline Jansen of Volkerwessels, Yuliia Biriukova of Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi, and Carlota Cipressi of Human Powered Health escaped after 54km.
Ema Comte of Cofidis and Anouska Koster of Uno-X Mobility soon bridged across. The five riders built a lead of 2:05 by the Côte de Cossonay, the third of the day’s five climbs and almost exactly the halfway point.
Comte led over that climb. Biriukova then took the intermediate sprint ahead of Jansen soon afterwards.
Koster beat Comte over the next climb as SD Worx-Protime began driving the peloton behind race leader Wiebes. The gap had fallen to 1:15 as the bunch increased pressure.
Biriukova and Cipressi dropped from the break, leaving Koster, Comte and Jansen in front. On the Côte de Mont-sur-Rolle, French national champion Célia Gery of FDJ United-Suez attacked with Nina Berton of EF Education-Oatly one kilometre from the summit.
They closed to within 15 seconds at the top and then made contact. Sarah Van Dam of Visma-Lease a Bike, Amanda Spratt of Lidl-Trek, and Sara Casasola of Fenix-Premier Tech also crossed over.
The peloton stayed close, and the enlarged front group lost momentum. Comte chose to go alone with 40km remaining.
Markus nearly denies the sprinters in Geneva
Comte had already spent many kilometres up the road. Riejanne Markus of Lidl-Trek caught her soon after, then rode clear alone.
Markus began a long solo time trial toward Geneva and built a lead of 1:05 with 28km to race. SD Worx-Protime kept the chase organised behind her, steadily cutting into the advantage.
With 10km left, Markus still held about half a minute. Her ride forced the sprint teams to commit fully before the final run-in.
SD Worx-Protime eventually brought Markus back inside the final 500 metres. Wiebes was waiting behind the chase before unleashing the decisive acceleration.
After the finish, Wiebes praised the work of her teammates. She said winning in yellow made the victory “special,” especially after SD Worx-Protime had chased “full gas” to catch Markus.
The victory lifted Wiebes to 133 career wins. The total places her above Tadej Pogačar’s career tally in the men’s peloton.
Vos remains the leading winner in the all-time women’s peloton with 259 victories. After finishing third in Geneva, she will look for chances to improve in the coming stages.
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