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Lorena Wiebes has prevailed in a chaotic sprint to claim victory in the third stage of the Tour de France Femmes, edging fellow Dutch rider Marianne Vos who took the overall lead after a 163.5km ride from La Gacilly to Angers.
Sprint specialist Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), who narrowly lost stage two to Mavi Garcia, made an explosive push for the finish as a crash 3.7 km from the finish temporarily took out several riders including 2023 champion Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez).
Stage one winner Vos (Visma–Lease a Bike) narrowly missed out on victory to Wiebes in a photo-finish, but reclaimed the yellow jersey from Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) due to a six-second time bonus. Pienaar, who led the general classification after the second stage, dropped to second place with a six-second gap.
New Zealand’s Ally Wollaston (FDJ-Suez) finished third.
Sara Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) was the first Australian over the line on Monday, placed 77th with the bulk of the peloton given the same time as the winner, the crash having been inside the final 5km.
Gigante is 19th overall, 45 seconds behind Vos
An early breakaway was formed by four riders, including Alison Jackson (EF Education-Oatly), who succeeded in capturing a mountain sprint at the summit of Cote de La Richardiere.
But others slowly caught up, with Lotte Kopecky expertly leading her teammate Wiebes to the front, setting up the final sprint just before the crash derailed a number of riders behind them leaving a group of just over 20 to contest the final sprint.
The Tour continues on Tuesday with stage four, a 130.7km ride from Saumur to Poitiers through another mostly-flat terrain.
The place to watch the 2025 Tour de France — live, free and exclusive — plus the fourth edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is right here on the SBS On Demand Hub.
