Key events
67km to go: The peloton have been chipping away on the leading quartet’s gap – it’s down to 3mins now. Also, this is interesting via the race centre:
Of the leading quartet, Clémence Latimier, is the only rider to be making her debut at the Tour this year. In fact the 21-year-old from Isère has been a professional for less than three months.
Kim Le Court-Pienaar is loving being in the yellow jersey, so much so that she is also sporting a yellow helmet, bike and gloves today. Speaking to the race centre before stage three, the AG Insurance-Soudal rider said:
It’s incredible, I’m really happy. It was a bit of a surprise; I didn’t expect to be in yellow. There are two sprint stages, today and tomorrow, and it’s going to be tough. We can’t stress too much or lose too much time; that’s the goal today. If we lose the jersey tonight, that’s fine. We’ll try to regain it later when the course suits me a little better. I don’t think my status in the peloton has changed. The others tell me it has. But I don’t feel it!
80km to go: The breakaway (Jackson, Latimier, Martín and Soto Campos) are still plugging away – they’ve lost about another 15secs on their lead but still have more than 3mins on the bunch. It’s less than 40km now until the intermediate sprint.
88km to go: The gap between the peloton and the breakaway has decreased slightly. It now stands at 3mins 34secs. SD Worx-Protime are driving the bunch, with its sprinter Lorena Wiebes visible in her European champion jersey.
97km to go: Former professional road and track cyclist Dani Rowe has been speaking on TNT Sports about the possible dangers in the approach to the finish line. She says there is a narrow pinch point after a slight downhill, plus railway line or tramtracks to ride over in another section. Matt Stephens spoke to Lorena Wiebes about the finish and she said she was excited for it. The SD Worx-Protime said:
The final will be super hectic … I like it when the final is a bit more technical.
99km to go: With under 100km to go, the breakaway (Jackson, Latimier, Martín and Soto Campos) have almost 4mins on the peloton. Email me with your predicitions. Do you think one of these four could take today’s stage or will the peloton bring it back for a bunch sprint finish?
109km to go: Margot Vanpachtenbeke (VolkerWessels Cycling Team) tried to get away from the peloton and bridge across but it was a big ask when the breakaway are so far ahead. She’s been caught. Morgane Coston (Roland Le Dévoluy) and Valentina Cavallar (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) drop off the back of the peloton and lag by 10secs.
Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) and Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease a Bike) are caught up in a crash in the peloton but they swiftly remount their bikes to continue.
114km to go: The gap between the breakaway and the peloton just keeps growing. It now stands at 3mins 50secs. Although the break threatens the ambitions of those hoping for a bunch sprint, the yellow jersey wearer, AG Insurance-Soudal’s Kim Le Court Pienaar shouldn’t be worried. The best placed rider in the quartet, Alison Jackson was 11mins 59secs behind her on the GC at the start of today’s stage.
119km to go: And there it is; the peloton have caught Avoine and Brauße. The breakaway (Jackson, Latimier, Martín and Soto Campos) have a sizeable 3mins 23secs on the bunch. The race radio has just warned about narrow roads coming up.
122km to go: That means Jackson gets her first QOM points, snagging two, while Martín gets one mountains classification point. The chasing pair (Avoine and Brauße) are only 12secs ahead of the peloton so it’s looking likely that they’ll get caught soon. Meanwhile, the breakaway are increasing their gap.
126km to go: Jackson was the first to reach the summit of the Côte de la Richardière, followed by Martín. The front four have almost 3mins on the peloton now. The chasing duo (Avoine and Brauße) trail by 2mins 40secs.
A favourite for today’s stage, Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) spoke to the Tour race centre before stage three. She said:
I’m not too upset about yesterday, today’s a new chance and also tomorrow so I’m excited for today’s stage. The pressure [to win] is always there and we have to deal with it. It’s not an easy job to finish it off. Sprint stages are always a bit tricky so we’ll do our best and we’ll go for the highest step of the podium. It’s always special to win on the Tour de France, especially the first time when I won on the Champs-Élysées, it’s something I will never forget.
131km to go: As the riders head towards the only categorised climb of the day, the category four Côte de la Richardière (1.7km at 4.6%), the situation looks like this: Four riders (Jackson, Latimier, Martín and Soto Campos) have a gap of 2mins 35secs on the peloton, while behind the breakaway, the chasers (Avoine and Brauße) have joined together and are 1min 40secs behind the quartet.
137km to go: The breakaway of four (Jackson, Latimier, Martín and Soto Campos) have increased the gap to the peloton and are now 1min 45secs ahead. Alison Avoine of St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93 gives chase as does Franziska Brauße (Ceratizit Pro Cycling).
141km to go: Aude Biannic tries to join her Movistar teammate in the breakaway. She’s 10secs ahead of the peloton but 55secs behind the four out front.
144km to go: A group of counterattackers go after the four out the front but it’s not long before they’re caught up by the peloton. The gap to the bunch grows to 35secs for the breakaway.
148km to go: Brauße’s attack doesn’t stick and she’s also swallowed up by the peloton. It’s been a lively start with plenty of small attacks but the peloton is on high alert. Saying that though, a group of four manage to get away. It includes, EF Education-Oatly’s Alison Jackson, Arkéa-B&B Hotels’ Clémence Latimier, Movistar’s Sara Martín and Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi’s Catalina Soto Campos. They have about 20secs on the bunch.
154km to go: Franziska Brauße (Ceratizit Pro Cycling) is the next to give it a go. So far, she’s managed a 10sec gap on the peloton. A couple of other riders try to bridge across.
157km to go: Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) attacks and manages to briefly get ahead, but the peloton swiftly reel her back in.
The racing has begun!
160km to go: And we’re off! Without Longo Borghini, 146 riders set off as the race flag is dropped.
Elisa Longo Borghini withdraws from the race
Elisa Longo Borghini of UAE Team ADQ will not start today due to illness. The Italian champion’s team issued this statement on social media:
Unfortunately, Elisa Longo Borghini will not start stage three of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift due to a gastrointestinal infection. After fighting through the first two stages, her condition worsened and, together with the team, she made the tough decision to withdraw.
Today’s rollout has begun
Stage three of the Tour de France Femmes 2025 is under way. The peloton have rolled out from La Gacilly. There’s a short 2.6km neutralised section before the racing begins.
The race radio has just chimed in, saying that racing on stage three will get under way in six minutes. There’s no live TV coverage of today’s stage for me until later, so updates will be coming via the official race radio and centre for the start.
And who’s wearing which jersey:
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Yellow jersey – Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 4hrs 37mins 25secs
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Green jersey – Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), 71pts
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Polka dot jersey – Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez), 10pts
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White jersey – Julie Bego (Cofidis), 4hrs 38mins 13secs
Here’s a reminder of the top ten on GC after stage two:
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Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 4hrs 37mins 25secs
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Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), 4hrs 37mins 25secs
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Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike), +6secs
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Katarzyna Niewiadoma Phinney (Canyon/SRAM), +10secs
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Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), +13secs
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Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), +15secs
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Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx Protime), +15secs
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Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck), +19secs
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Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek), +19secs
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Chloé Dygert (Canyon/SRAM), +19secs
Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) of Mauritius finished third in yesteday’s stage so took the overall leader’s yellow jersey. The Dutch rider Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), who wore the leader’s jersey after winning Saturday’s opening stage, finished fifth and surrendered her overall lead to Le Court Pienaar.
Stage three is the second longest stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. Here is the route profile:
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Stage three: La Gacilly to Angers, 163km
Here’s a look at today’s stage, Monday 28 July: La Gacilly to Angers, 163.5km, with the race director of the Tour de France Femmes, Marion Rousse:
La Gacilly hosted both the 2023 Tour de l’Avenir and this year’s Tour de Bretagne. This stage start in front of the covered market is a logical and well deserved continuation of that trend. A little further on, memories of Tour stage starts in 1983 and 2004 will be rekindled at Châteaubriant, which is home to a well-renowned club and an operational velodrome. After racing on country roads with no significant difficulties, the riders are very likely to serve up a bunch sprint for the fans in Angers.
Preamble
Today’s 163.5km flat stage is being heralded as a day for the sprinters, with flat roads to Angers resulting in a classic bunch sprint. There’s a category four climb (1.7km at 4.6%) at 34km in and an intermediate sprint later on, at 123.9km. However, the final run to the finish line is technical, with a number of sharp corners in the last kilometre. The final is technical, though, with multiple sharp corners in the last 1.2 km of the stage.
Eyes will be on SD Worx-Protime’s Lorena Wiebes after she was denied a sprint finish on stage two by Mavi García’s breakaway. Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), Ally Wollaston (FDJ-Suez) and Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) could be Wiebes’s main challengers. I would love to know your thoughts on the race so far and any predictions you have for today’s stage – you can get in touch via the email linked at the top of the page.
The riders will begin with a neutralised start at 1.50pm CET/12.50pm BST, with the finish expected at approximateLy 5.30pm CET/4.30pm BST. While we wait for the peloton to get going, here’s a recap of yesterday’s events: