Key events
Here are highlights of the final kilometre. That kick from Kool at the very end was special.
Here are the GC standings
Kool leads the way in yellow, having won both stages so far. Demi Vollering is 20 seconds off the pace, in 24th place.
Provisional top five
1. Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich PostNL)
2. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime)
3. Marianne Vos (Visma|Lease a Bike)
4. Lotta Henttala (EF-Oatly-Cannondale)
5. Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek)
Overall favourite Demi Vollering, SD Worx–Protime teammate of Wiebes, also speaks:
It was really stressful, really fast. It’s sad that we didn’t win, it would have been nice if Lorena [Wiebes] won today, maybe she went a bit early. I think [finishing second] has made her even more motivated for the time trial.
Kool’s English dsm–firmenich PostNL teammate, Pfeiffer Georgi, also spoke to the cameras:
I think we all had confidence [in Kool]. She’s just so fast. We knew it was going to be crazy. It was even more technical than yesterday, with all the road furniture. We didn’t want to be in front, we wanted to come from behind with speed.
Kool: ‘Dreams come true quite fast these days’
Kool speaks to the cameras after her stage two win:
We were a bit far, but I tried to stay calm. I launched my sprint, and it was enough. We were in control the whole day. It was a hectic course, but I like it. Dreams come true quite fast these days. First yesterday [in the yellow jersey], now today. I guess I’m stronger than ever, I didn’t expect this
Kool certainly looked like she had more in the legs there. Wiebes was at the Olympics, while Kool has chosen to focus on the TdF, and I wonder if that has played a part here. Wiebes’s preparations – travel, nutrition, training, her mental prep – have not been ideal going into this. The same could be said for Vos.
Woooooooooow. I’m watching a replay of that sprint finish back, and Kool timed that to absolute perfection. Wiebes got a great lead out from her SD Worx–Protime teammates, but Kool had a huge burst of acceleration with around 100 metres to go, and the momentum saw her pass her compatriot with just a few metres to go.
Charlotte Kool wins stage two after a dramatic sprint!
Vos is among the riders at the front, but Charlotte Kool, in yellow, comes from nowhere (two or three riders back) and pips Wiebes to the line, adding to her stage one victory! Wow!
We’re into the sprint finish! Charlotte Kool and Lorena Wiebes are there, with Vos also there!
Huge crash on a bridge with 3km to go!
Australia’s Amber Pate goes down near the front and a large section of the peloton is forced to stop on such a narrow bridge. Disaster! Ruby Roseman-Gannon also involved. Only a portion of riders of the front escaped that!
A huge right turn, as riders decelerate from 62km/hr to cross a bridge. We are into the Rotterdam city centre now. Stage favourites Charlotte Kool and Lorena Wiebes are well placed, just 3km to go.
Obviously. It was a good effort, but ultimately De Keersmaeker wasn’t able to hold off the peloton.
I really can’t express enough how flat this stage is, hardly surprising in the Netherlands. Marianne Vos is on home turf, the Dutch superstar is well positioned about 10 riders back from the front. She slightly misjudged yesterday’s finish into the Hague. “Fifth is not really satisfying but it’s a bunch sprint so anything can happen,” said Vos, before agreeing that positioning was the problem. “I was a bit too far back in the final kilometre, so I couldn’t sprint for the win. I still did everything I could, but Kool turned out to be the fastest today.”
The riders are currently zooming along at around 45km/hr. Just six kilometres to go.
De Keersmaeker is caught!
The peloton eats up the road and swallows De Keersmaeker. Just under 10km to go!
It’s a huge peloton of 147 riders, but there is a fair amount of road furniture – roundabouts, narrow funnels of road, bridges as the cyclists make their way into Rotterdam. That means that the peloton does elongate somewhat, which could play a big part in the bunch finish.
Speaking of the peloton, they are closing on our stage two leader, Audrey De Keersmaeker, whose lead is now down to 15 seconds with just under 12m left.
Today, Nikola Noskova (Cofidis Women Team), Yanina Kuskova (Tashkent City Women Professional Cycling Team) and Mieke Docx (Lotto Dstny Ladies) have been involved in a crash, while Dilyxine Miermont (St Michel – Mavic – Auber93 WE) and Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez) also had a collision, although the latter pair made it back into the peloton.
There have been more crashes today after the drama of yesterday. A crash in the neutral zone on stage one led to the British rider Natalie Grinczer falling and then abandoning. The Tashkent City Women’s team had a torrid first day and lost four of their seven riders.
Here is the stage one report from Monday.
There are some big names missing here: Lotte Kopecky, who raced in the final day of competition on Sunday in the Olympic velodrome and was second overall to her SD Worx Protime teammate Demi Vollering in last year’s Tour de France Femmes, was one of those who prioritised the Olympics. Elisa Longo Borghini, winner of the women’s Giro d’Italia, has also pulled out because of the painful aftermath of a recent crash while out training.
Vollering remains the overall favourite again this year.
Preamble
It’s a wild two parter today at the Tour de France Femmes: first up is the stage two run from Dordrecht to Rotterdam, a 69.7km race along the flat, with a sprint finish. There is around 18km left of that, so we’ll dive straight into that now.
Audrey De Keersmaeker is out in front on her own, and has around a 28 second lead on the rest of the peloton. Not sure she is going to hold onto that, but she will surely get the combative rider of the day award.
The stage-three time trial will also take place later: a 6.3km ride around Rotterdam. But we’ll come to that later.