The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift can so far be described in one word: chaos. Maybe it is the pressure and gravity of the event, maybe it is Brittany’s small, winding roads, or maybe this is just what the opening stages of Grand Tours are like, but the peloton is a stressful place to be. Crashes have already hampered many of the general classification favourites – including pre-race favourite Demi Vollering – and escaping the carnage is not an easy task.
There is one bike rider, though, who always seems to find her way through. She weaves around the bunch with both a looming presence and a cat-like instinct, visible only when it is utterly necessary. That moment comes, usually, in the final metres when the finish line is in view, when she unleashes that generational burst of speed in a few unmatchable pedal strokes. Disorder may be reigning behind her, but Lorena Wiebes, resplendent in the white jersey of the European champion, is not thinking about that. She is doing what she does best – winning bike races.
The SD Worx-Protime rider’s sprint on stage three of the Tour de France Femmes on Monday was textbook Wiebes style and execution. Her team had been put to work for the entirety of the day to control the time gap to the four-woman breakaway up the road, and once they were caught, the pressure was on the 26-year-old to finish it off. Marianne Vos, who finished second on the stage for Visma-Lease a Bike, couldn’t even come off Wiebes’ back wheel. Once the victory was in the bag – and it was never in doubt – Wiebes punched the air and celebrated with accomplished satisfaction. She had balanced the pressure, escaped the chaos, and finished the fastest. This is why she is the best sprinter in the world right now.
“The team was chasing all day long and when the breakaway was gone the pressure at one point was quite high for me, realising that the girls chased for more than 100 kilometres, and it was really a lot of chaos in the final,” a delighted Wiebes said in her post-race press conference, a few moments after taking her first stage win of this year’s Tour in Angers.
She noted that the lack of general classification ambition in her team means that they are throwing everything at securing stage victories. It is a change in approach for SD Worx-Protime, who in previous seasons have had the favourite for the yellow jersey in their ranks, but this year both Lotte Kopecky and Anna van der Breggen have said they are not interested in the battle for the overall Tour de France Femmes title.
“When we had real GC ambitions, then probably we would not have chased all day today because then GC was priority and we needed to save energy for the real mountain days,” Wiebes reflected. “That changed quite a lot of our tactics, actually. Every opportunity now is really nice. What Lotte and Anna both did for me in the final showed again what a good team we are.”
While Kopecky has not been at her best during this Tour so far, losing time on the opening stages, Wiebes is adamant that success will keep coming for her team if they can balance the pressure of the Tour with enjoyment.
“The atmosphere in the team is still really good, and we know Lotte is struggling a bit, so we try to have as much fun as possible”, the Dutchwoman said. “I really hope that she gets this fun back. What she did today showed that she is also getting better. For myself one of the reasons why I joined this team is because fun is the most important thing to have in this sport. Without it, you can’t get the results and the legs will not speak.”
Wiebes spoke openly about hitting the perfect equilibrium in her life between work and play. It’s hard to do at a race like the Tour de France when the eyes of the world are watching, but it is the SD Worx rider’s secret weapon when it comes to success. The huge watts and power are part of it, but Wiebes’ mentality makes a difference too. That’s what it takes to emerge unscdathed from the chaos of a Grand Tour.
“In between races it is nice to be at home, take a rest, do a coffee ride, and enjoy life. I am looking forward to going on a small holiday after the Tour de France and that is keeping me motivated to finish this week in a good way,” Wiebes explained. “In a stage like this it can be hard to keep focus, but you know how big the chance is.”
