Final Mishap Overshadows Stellar Sprint Performance in Closing Event

Tour de France Femmes 2025: Chaotic Third Stage Concludes with Wiebes' Triumph

The third stage of the Tour de France Femmes 2025, covering a distance of 163.5km from La Gacilly to Angers, proved to be a rollercoaster ride for the riders. The day was marked by several attacks, crashes, and strategic manoeuvres, culminating in Lorena Wiebes' thrilling victory.

The stage began with 146 riders setting off, navigating the neutralised zone. The peloton remained compact, with SD Worx-Protime taking the reins, significantly reducing the gap to the break.

Four riders, Alison Jackson, Clemence Latimer, Sara Martin, and Catalina Soto, managed to carve out a small gap as the breakaway attempt continued. However, the peloton, led by FDJ-Suez, Visma-Lease a Bike, and Canyon-SRAM-ZondaCrypto, was relentless in its pursuit, bringing the gap down to under a minute (48").

Meanwhile, a significant development unfolded in the General Classification (GC). Marianne Vos, donning the Visma-Lease a Bike jersey, stood on the same time as Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) in the GC. If Vos managed to secure any bonus seconds, she would reclaim the yellow jersey from Le Court.

True to form, Vos seized the opportunity, taking the 6" bonus in 2nd place, thereby regaining the yellow jersey after a day out of the leader's jersey.

The race's final kilometres were marred by crashes. First, a crash inside the 5km to go protocol involving Chloe Dygert, Demi Vollering, Elisa Balsamo, Letizia Paternoster, and Puck Pieterse caused chaos. Soon after, another crash involving Uno-X Mobility, AG Insurance-Soudal, Winspace-Orange-Seal, and others resulted in Eugenia Bujak (Cofidis) and Gladys Verhulst-Wild (AG Insurance-Soudal) being among the riders down.

In the midst of these incidents, Demi Vollering launched an attack after the intermediate sprint, causing several riders to get dropped. However, Soto, Martin, and Jackson countered with their own attacks, eventually catching up to Soto, who had a small gap.

The race's final sprint was chaotic, with Wiebes emerging victorious. The third stage victory marked Wiebes' third stage win in the Tour de France Femmes 2025.

Elisa Longo Borghini, who had to leave the race early due to gastrointestinal issues, had previously led the Tour de France Femmes 2025 overall before Lorena Wiebes' third stage victory.

The GC remains finely balanced, with Marianne Vos leading, followed closely by Kim Le Court, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, and Lorena Wiebes. The riders will face another challenging day tomorrow, with only one mountain sprint and an intermediate sprint scheduled. The weather is expected to remain cloudy with a temperature of 22.4°c and very light, almost non-existent, wind.