Lorena Wiebes Explodes At Finish To Win 2026 Tour de France Femmes Stage 1

What is the situation going to be when they come out of the other side? Make your bets. 1,300 meters to go and still it's all the contender. Oh crash! Crash hits in the deck. Paternoster comes down and also Vladachuk is down. As well as Balsamo. Balsamo was caught up for a little track. Lotte Capecchi is at the front. Big attack of Celia Geri. The French champion now explodes into life. Kasia Niewiadoma is on her wheel behind her. Kim La Cour and Pauline Franprevot in slow motion. Elisa Longoborghini. Naomi Rugg is there. What a fight this is going to be. Also Lorena Wiebes arrives. Wiebes poised, waiting, ready. Naomi Rugg on the wheel of the fastest woman. Getting a little bit boxed, Amy Vollering. 1,000 meters and now it's stalemate. They've all looked around. They've realized that Wiebes is there and everybody has just put the brakes on. Pauline Franprevot moves on the right-hand side. Wiebes is almost waiting and saying just give me the yellow jersey now. You might as well. I'm the fastest rider in this group. Demi Vollering comes up to the front as well. This is going to be a real battle. Also towards the front is Isabella Holmgren who was in trouble earlier on in this race. But she's there too. 880 meters to go. Just to her right-hand side is Niamh Fisher-Black. The duo for Lidl Trek. They've lost their sprinter at the moment. The question is how is the adrenaline now starting to move? Demi Vollering right onto the wheel. The Mauritian champion Kim Lecourt. Italian champion Elisa Longoborghini. Wiebes still there. This is a big attack of Demi Vollering. Kim Lecourt looking for the first yellow jersey. Elisa Longoborghini is there. Moving up though. Here comes Lorena Wiebes. Wiebes is getting Ana van der Breggen onto the wheel. In fact, no, it's Wiebes. It is Wiebes. Big attack on the outside. Kerbal. As Kerbal goes with Naomi Roeg. Roeg is right on the wheel and still Pauline Ferrand-Prevot is getting ready to take back the yellow jersey that she had last year. Kasia Niewiadoma is there. Big attack of Lorena Wiebes. Wiebes now explodes into life. Demi Vollering is on the wheel. She's going to challenge Lorena Wiebes for this. But it's Wiebes and Kim Lecourt. Lorena Wiebes. Was there any doubt? No, there wasn't. Lorena Wiebes wins the stage. First yellow jersey. She wanted the yellow back. She said it would taste even sweeter this time around. And what a way to do it. A commanding victory. Well executed. The fastest rider in the world wins. Three and a half hours of racing. Wiebes just played with the remote control all the way up the climb. What a sprint. And that's what it takes to win. Amazing sprint from Lorena Wiebes. Against the biggest contenders for this Tour de France. Hannah, talk us through it. You can see the way she comes alongside Puk Petersen. She was in doubt in two minds whether to go to the right-hand side or the left. She decided to commit to the left-hand side. Once she got that jump and came past Petersen, Lecourt and Vollering, there was no coming back. The closest challenger, the Mauritian champion Kim Lecourt, nobody could challenge. Nobody could match the acceleration. The way that she rode and she was toying with the idea whether to go on the right, whether to go left. She dropped back a few places. She had the full overview because she knew the company she was surrounded by, she could beat. It was just a matter of getting the timing right, getting the positioning right, which she always does. And it shows, and she showed to us just then, what it takes to win. But also, Hannah... Take the bike off me, fall into the ground. I don't want to know. I don't want to know about this bike anymore. But let's not underestimate how hard that finishes. That is severe, that finish. Brutal finish. It puts you into a deficit.