Tour de France Women: Kool doubles; third stage time trial coming up – live | Tour de France Women

Kool’s English dsm–firmenich PostNL teammatePfeiffer 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 at the front, we wanted to come from the back with speed.

Kool: ‘Dreams quickly become reality these days’

Kool certainly looked like she had more in her legs. Wiebes was at the Olympics, while Kool chose to focus on the TdF, and I wonder if that played a role here. Wiebes’ preparations – travel, nutrition, training, her mental preparation – have not been ideal during this time. The same can be said of Vos.

Wooooooooow. I watch a replay of that sprint finish, and Kool timed it to perfection. Wiebes got a huge lead from her SD Worx-Protime teammates, but Kool had a huge burst of acceleration with about 100 meters to go, and the momentum saw her pass her compatriot with just a few meters to go.

Charlotte Kool wins second stage after dramatic sprint!

We’re heading for the final sprint! Charlotte Kool and Lorena Wiebes are there, and Vos too!

Huge crash on a bridge with 3km to go!

A huge bend to the rightas riders slow down from 62 km/h to cross a bridge. We are now in the center of Rotterdam. Stage favorites Charlotte Kool and Lorena Wiebes are well positioned, only 3 km to go.

EvidentlyIt was a good attempt, but in the end De Keersmaeker could not hold off the peloton.

I can’t stress enough how flat this stage is, not surprising in the Netherlands. Marianne Vos is on home turf, the Dutch superstar is well positioned about 10 riders from the front. She slightly misjudged yesterday’s finish in The Hague. “Fifth is not really satisfying, but it’s a bunch sprint, so anything can happen,” Vos said, before admitting that positioning was the problem. “I was a bit too far behind in the last kilometer, 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 racing at a speed of about 45 km/h. Only six kilometers to go.

De Keersmaeker has been caught!

It is a huge peloton of 147 ridersbut there is a fair amount of road furniture – roundabouts, narrow funnels of road, bridges as the cyclists enter Rotterdam. That means the peloton gets a bit longer, which can play a big role in the peloton finish.

Speaking of the pelotonthey are closing in on our second stage leader, Audrey De Keersmaeker, whose lead has now shrunk to 15 seconds with just under 12 metres left on the clock.

TodayNikola Noskova (Cofidis Women Team), Yanina Kuskova (Tashkent City Women Professional Cycling Team) and Mieke Docx (Lotto Dstny Ladies) were involved in a crash, while Dilyxine Miermont (St Michel – Mavic – Auber93 WE) and Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez) were also involved in a collision, although the latter duo managed to rejoin the peloton.

There have been more crashes today after yesterday’s drama. A crash in the neutral zone on stage one saw British rider Natalie Grinczer fall and then abandon. The Tashkent City women’s team had a hot first day, losing four of their seven riders.

Here is the report of phase one from Monday.

There are a few big names missing here: Lotte Kopecky, who raced in the Olympic velodrome on Sunday’s final day of competition and finished second to her SD Worx Protime teammate Demi Vollering in last year’s Tour de France Femmes, was among those who prioritized the Olympics. Elisa Longo Borghini, winner of the women’s Giro d’Italia, has also withdrawn, citing the painful aftermath of a recent crash in training.

Vollering remains the absolute favorite this year as well.

Preamble