Thought I’d open up a thread dedicated to this race, beyond the crashes we saw yesterday on stage 2.
It was supremely gratifying seeing Marianna Vos don the yellow jersey. World champ on the road, track, and CX, olympic gold medalist (twice, I think), so the yellow jersey was what was missing from her trophy cabinet.
Yesterday was her 241st career win as a pro. And I read earlier today that women’s cycling only has 1/6 the races men have.
She was one of the voices advocating for the past 9 years for a return of this race, so am very glad she could finally enjoy the fruits of her labour!
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Vos is definitely the GOAT. Given her history of achievements and the advocacy for TdF Femmes, it’s great to see her in yellow.
That said, I’m rooting for self-proclaimed “silly banana”, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig. She just makes cycling so much fun.
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Haven’t started watching today’s stage yet - but Stage 2 was great. For anyone who isn’t up to speed on the race or women’s racing - it would make a great introduction into the peloton and frankly could just be a two hour advertisement for women’s racing. Strongly recommend you give it a shot
I really like the parcours for this race - these classic-ish stages to start and then climbing towards the finish. Hopefully the constant splits and attacking continue until the weekend and then we see if AVV is still the best climber and capable of pulling back any time she’s lost in the meantime
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SPOILER
Yes!
What a win for the silly banana!
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I watched the replay of stage 2 while riding this morning and it was so exciting! I really love the fact that it’s less than 2 hours of racing because I think it keeps it more exciting. In comparison to the men’s where they just roll along for 4 hours chatting, and then like an hour of attacks and spiciness.
Elisa Balsamo surprised me. I didn’t expect her to drop off so early, then roll in behind the peloton even.
I do love that Vos won. Her mom hugging her at the end was so adorable. I also love that she’s in her 30s too!
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Good call! That was an amazing attack she did - holy power. You could almost see Vos doing a double take when she saw her overtake on her right.
Is Denmark the new Slovenia?
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Oh, it’s more than 2 hours of racing - stage 2 was 135km with a nasty headwind for the first 2/3. But I think broadcasters only show the final 2 or 3 hours 
Today’s stage was 133km. So they are indeed shorter than the men’s and fun to watch (that being said, the men’s TDF was pretty damn entertaining this year!). The final 50km were fabulously bumpy and winding through some villages, like Belgium with vines.
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Nice call there… holy smokes the power display she put on at the end… Vos didn’t even attempt to get her wheel… pretty impressive after chasing back
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So far it’s been an enjoyable race, these ladies are a very competitive bunch. I feel anyone could win even though VoS is probably the favorite.
Fantastic win today and a great winners interview.
Honestly never heard of her before but now will never forget her - this is why we needed Tour de France Femmes and the TV coverage it deserves.
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Definitely not the favorite for GC… she will hold it as long as she can but once the big mountain stages come it’s not a race for Vos. I’m sure she isn’t even targeting GC.
Annemiek is the big favorite but she was sick and lost some time over the first three days. Opens the door for some of the other climbers. Should be super exciting!
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This interview is so great!
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I’m enjoying this race and looking forward to more coverage of women’s cycling. Although with GCN+ I already have more coverage of than I can watch.
I did notice something odd with the coverage video. When they do the summary of who is in which jersey and they start with the rider’s stock image and transform it to the rider-in-the-jersey, they are doing a body swap. All of the jersey bodies are the same, with the rider’s head changed out to the current jersey wearer. I thought for the men’s presentations they mapped the jersey over the actual image of the man in the jersey, but I’m not sure.
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She always has hilarious quips in interviews. Flanders 2019, and La Course 2018 (I think) are all time classics.
With AvV sick, it will be interesting to see how long the recovery from that is. I know she said she was feeling better yesterday, but clearly not back to her full self. And also, she really struggled too keep much in her body for a day, so will there be a knock on effect later in the race? I am so excited for this gravel sector stage, time to turn the TV on.
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Think we all know how important it is to properly fuel for cycling. Not being able to eat or two days will have a big effect. But he’s also one of the strongest riders and has a huge engine.
You should check out this video. Her humour and enthusiasm are just so infectious.
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Can someone tell me if I am just seeing this situation wrong… at the 12.9k to go mark of today’s stage when Mavi Garcia hits the front side of her team car… I’ve replayed it like five times trying to figure out how this could happen… from my view driver is actually gaining speed into the back of the small group of riders that Mavi is trying to get to the back of… as a rider I wouldn’t have expected that car to be SPEEDING up into the back of that group (or the group was slowing down - still the car should have kept distance)… I’m thinking this guy had his eyes off the road in this critical point … I’m calling complete buffoonery on the driver on this one… would love to get @ambermalika or @IvyAudrain s take on it if they’ve seen it.
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I didn’t see him speed up. It seemed to me that she just kind of cut in to get on the back of the group too soon. I would have thought though that he would have slowed down when he saw what she was doing.
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I viewed it and thought she just rode into her own team car.
Dutch Eurosport commentary said something like, car shouldn’t be so close the group, rider should pay attention to the situation. Combined with the chaos and stress of what happened before its just a really unlucky situation and I agree with that take.
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