There was no dropped chain, no mechanicals, no crashes, no one else to blame. It was a mano a mano sprint between Charlotte Kool and Lorena Wiebes. They both had a clear run at the line and a fair view of the finishing banner. Wiebes moved first, fast and powerful as she emerged from the front of the bunch in her SD Worx-Protime jersey. There was a time when that would have been enough. Once, passing the Dutch woman when she was in the full throes of her sprint was unthinkable. This Tour de France Femmes, however, things have changed.
Emerging from the back wheel of Wiebes, her yellow jersey bright against an overcast day in Rotterdam, was the stocky, powerful figure of Kool. The dsm-firmenich-PostNL rider popped out of the slipstream of her long-time sprinting rival and did the thing that people have been wondering if she could do for this entire year: she came past her. The two fastest women in the current WorldTour peloton had their heads down, putting every watt they could find through their pedals, and Kool was, simply, better.
In 2022, Wiebes won 23 races, the following year she won 13, in 2024, she has had 18 victories so far. Earlier this season, the 25-year-old looked like she was her usual unbeatable self, but Kool’s form at the Tour de France has changed things. The dsm rider cited health issues earlier this season as a reason for her lack of wins so far this year, but revealed after her stage one victory that since seeing chiropractors and breathing specialists, those problems have been resolved. Now she looks unstoppable.
SD Worx-Protime were visibly dejected at the finish line of stage two of the Tour de France. These opening stages should have been two almost guaranteed wins for the world-beating Dutch squad, but they are leaving the Grand Depart in Rotterdam empty handed. Disappointment is not a feeling that SD Worx is used to processing, but they confronted it with bravery in post-race interviews – there were no excuses.
“I think I started my sprint a bit too early but things like this happen in sprinting. In the men’s racing you don’t see the same sprinter winning every sprint. There are more chances coming up when the parcours are a bit harder, which I’m looking forward to,” Wiebes said after the stage.
“The lead out was really good, we timed it really well and the girls did amazing. I think I should have waited a little bit longer before passing Barbara [Guarischi] but it’s hard with this kind of finish, you see the finish line for a long time so you really want to go and sometimes you have to have a bit more patience.”
The team couldn’t really pinpoint things that they could have done differently in today’s stage for a better outcome. As hard as it might be to accept, Kool is the fastest woman in the bike race, there is nothing that can change that.
“I thought it went ok. Maybe Lorena was too eager, I have to watch it back but it was a fair sprint today not like yesterday so Charlotte deserved to win,” Mischa Bredewold commented after the stage, a rider who is a key part of the SD Worx lead-out train. “[Lorena] is really strong in the head and very ambitious. She knows this is part of cycling and is very mature about it.”
A few metres away from the likes of Bredewold and Wiebes was Kool celebrating with her teammates. After yesterday’s sprint, there were doubts that she won because of Wiebes having a mechanical. Now, there can be no discussion about whether she deserves this success.
“Winning a second stage in yellow in the Tour de France is insane. I believed I could win today, I felt my sprint was where it should be and I knew I just had to do the same as yesterday, be patient and wait, then launch my sprint,” Kool gushed after the race. “My teammates did an amazing job, I can’t thank them enough they are so special to me. It’s an honour to be finishing off, they are the ones who deserve it. I think this yellow jersey gives wings and extra watts.”
After the events of these opening two stages, the signs point to Lorena Wiebes’ crown as the women’s peloton’s sprinting queen being taken by someone else. Kool is back and better than ever. The hierarchy has changed for good.
