Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica Scott) claimed the opening stage of La Course by Tour de France with a dominant performance on the Izoard. The Orica rider made use of some botched tactics from Boels Dolmans on the final climb before jumping clear with around four kilometres to go. Lizzie Deignan, who set the pace for the majority of the climb in a bit to set-up her teammate Megan Guarnier, was unable to follow Van Vleuten’s attack and was forced to settle for second. Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle High5) finished third.
"To finish here at the Tour de France with so many people is amazing," Van Vleuten said after the race. "Especially when before I wasn’t a climber but since the Rio Olympic Games when I was able to climb with everyone uphill that inspired me to focus more on the climbing. To organise this uphill finish for the girls on the Tour de France is great.
"To be honest, I regretted that I went so early. I had double tactics in mind because we have the pursuit on Saturday and I wanted to have some time in front also. I knew that everybody was hurting and I thought that it was better to go. If you wait to long then it makes it easier for the others. If have the legs then it’s good to go early."
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As expected the stage came down to showdown on the Izoard. Only Linda Villumsen was able to break free and the former world time trial champion built up a 30-second lead on the lower slopes of the climb.
Boels Dolmans - mainly through Deignan – set the pace in pursuit and whittled down the lead group to under a dozen riders. However’s Deignan’s pace was too much for the rest of her team and she was briefly forced to ease up as Guarnier battled back into contention.
Orica, meanwhile, allowed Boels to set the pace and then made use of the confusion before Van Vleuten attacked.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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