The third edition of the Tour de France Femmes takes riders over 946km from Rotterdam to the top of Alpe d’Huez but, with plenty of obstacles along the way, many of the 154 riders that are slated to start will not make it to the end.
In fact the announcements of the riders having to step away from the race started even before it began, with a positive COVID-19 test for New Zealand’s Kim Cadzow on the eve of the event leaving EF-Oatly-Cannondale one rider down and the number of riders in the peloton at the start of stage 1 at 153. Elisa Longo Borghini, on the other hand, was a little earlier in having to pull the pin after a training crash so Lidl-Trek had time to replace the in form Italian rider.
The in race crashes, illness, fatigue and time cuts during the race, however, will be final. That will leave some with stage victory hopes shattered, others with lead out trains taxed and overall contenders having to fight for yellow with the odds stacked against them – such is the inevitability of attrition in stage racing.
Throughout the eight stages and seven days of racing from Monday August 12 to Sunday August 18 that makes up the third edition of the Tour de France Femmes, Cyclingnews will track the withdrawals, so read on for the latest tally.
Stage 1
There were a number of crashes in the nervous first flat 124km stage from Rotterdam to The Hague but the biggest cause of attrition on day one was the inevitably fierce pace.
Ekaterina Knebeleva, Asal Rizaeva, Mohinabonu Elmurodova and Madina Kakhorova (Tashkent City Women) – DNF
As a team that ranked in the top 18, the team from Uzbekistan automatically qualifies for a place in every Women’s WorldTour race but most of the riders in the team don’t have the depth of experience at the top level found within much of the Tour de France Femmes peloton. The intensity and pace of that hard-fought opening stage proved too much for Ekaterina Knebeleva, Madina Kakhorova as well as 19-year-old Asal Rizaeva and the 18-year-old Mohinabonu Elmurodova, who were the third and second youngest riders on the start line in Rotterdam.
Natalie Grinczer (Roland) – DNF
The Tour de France Femmes was Natalie Grinczer’s first race back since a nasty crash at La Vuelta Femenina in April which included head trauma and left her with a tough recovery. The British rider made it to the start line but was unable to finish.
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