tour reporter
Lorena Wiebes sprints to her second victory in the women’s Tour de France. The 5th stage follows a classic pattern. This is rather rare in women’s cycling.
A left turn, over the bridge and then a roundabout. That was the way Lorena Wiebes still had to take behind the finish line in order to come to a standstill from their high final speed.
Clearly superior to Wiebes in the sprint
Shortly thereafter, the fastest sprinter was in Saint-Die-des-Vosges surrounded by well-wishers from her team. Their work was rewarded with the stage victory of the favorite. “It’s just nice to have someone who always delivers”said German champion Liane Lippert, who was one of the riders who toiled for success at Team DSM.
Wiebes23, had actually delivered, and how: Stage 5 ended with the second bunch sprint of the Tour de France women. And like on the Champs Elysees at the beginning of the tour, the Dutchwoman was clearly superior to her competitors.
250 meters from the finish Wiebes her very long sprint and brought him over the line by a large margin. “That’s her explosiveness. She’s simply the fastest”said Lippert. “When she drives off, she has a gap and can then pull through.”
The only pure sprinter in the women’s peloton
Wiebes is basically the only pure sprinter in the women’s peloton. She looks more at the men when looking for a role model for her sprints, explained Wiebes. And named her compatriot Fabio Jakobsenwho about three weeks ago in the men Tour de France-Stage had won as a role model. “He’s a very strong, fair sprinter. I like his style”she explained.
Wiebes tried his hand at Bar Dié des Vosges also an explanation for why she is alone as a classic sprinter among women. There are hardly any flat races on the women’s calendar, so as a female professional cyclist you always have to be able to get over the mountains well in order to survive, she said.
The 5th stage was unusually long at 175.6 kilometers. The world cycling association UCI stipulates a maximum length of 160 kilometers for women’s races. This isn’t the first time an exception has been made to this rule. But this stage of the tour was the longest race in the history of the Women’s World Tour. Adding in the neutralized early stages of the stage, the women sat in the saddle for around 180 kilometers. “I haven’t even ridden that long in training before”said Wiebes.
A long day for Franziska Koch
The lack of sprinters is also one of the reasons why the stages at the Tour de France of women are driven less controlled. But the length of the stage and what was probably the last chance for a sprint ensured that, unlike on the previous days, there was something like a clear structure for the first time: Four riders in front had made it into an escape group, behind them the field controlled, led by Team DSM, closed the gap on the breakaways and kept them about three minutes behind.
Above all, Franziska Koch made a name for herself. The 22-year-old from Mettmann was at the front of the field for more than 100 kilometers and almost single-handedly made sure that the escapees didn’t get too far away. “It’s been a long day for me”said Cook. “But when you hear that Lorena has finished it, it was worth it.”
In the final, the lead melted away until the last two escapees at the front were finally caught three kilometers before the finish line and everything was ready for the mass sprint Saint-Die-des-Vosges. A classic sprint stage.
Less control, hectic, lots of falls
On the other hand, stages three and four were much less orderly. The breakaway attempts were mostly short-lived. The peloton often stayed close together, where positions were then wrestled with. It was hectic – many falls, some of them serious, were the result. Also on the 5th stage it cleared half the field, bikes and riders fell over each other. The Dane Emma Cecillie Bjerg had to give up the race afterwards.
The long-awaited first women’s Tour de France in 33 years is sending out ugly images these days: riders writhing in pain on the road. “It’s the most important race of the year, of course there’s a lot of pressure and stress”explained Marion Rousse, the race director of the women’s tour.
The special attention given to the Tour may be one explanation, but there are other reasons why the races seem more disordered and it’s harder to control the field. The most important factor is the team size. Unlike the men, where each team sends eight professionals onto the track, there are only six drivers for the women.
Fewer drivers, less control
“You’ve got two fewer people who can keep it under control.”, says Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, the sports director at Team Trek-Segafredo. The calculation is very simple. In addition, many teams have focused primarily on the yellow jersey. “For us, the overall ranking counts here. That’s why I wouldn’t necessarily want to control that for the sprint and destroy half of the team for it.”says Teutenberg.
Alliances of several teams are difficult to form. Which also has to do with the style that the Equipe on the Women’s World Tourthe team SD Works, practiced successfully. “They don’t do it with a controlled driving style, but by driving opportunistically and putting pressure on the other teams“, says Ronny Lauke, team boss of the German world tour-Team Canyon/SRAM.
What Lauke is suggesting is that the leading force in women’s cycling often either owns the group or, if not, doesn’t follow. “They sit it out and say: ‘Hey, we won’t go first, then the group will come through. You go.'” The recipe, on the other hand, is sometimes not to let any group leave at all.
“The competitions are more unpredictable”
Or just let a small number of riders out in front because they are easier to control. “If you have a leader here, then you also have a noble helper. I can’t let out a large breakaway group like with the men.”says Dirk Baldinger, head of the German Continental team Ceratizit. “Who is going to bring them back when there are ten men in front and you only have four drivers to work behind? That’s not tactically possible.”
But that doesn’t necessarily make the races worse, according to track Olympic champion Lisa Brennauer, who drives for Baldinger’s Ceratizit team on the tour: “It’s a bit different. The competitions are more unpredictable. But then I usually find it super exciting.”
This should then be seen again on the 6th stage. Then it goes over 129.2 kilometers from Saint-Die-des-Voges to Rosheim in Alsace. The profile is ideal for a larger breakaway – at least on paper.