TdFFaZ Short on Favorites as Reusser and Longo Borghini Abandon

Favorites dropping like flies

The first top favourite to succumb was Movistar leader Marlen Reusser, who had suffered from diarrhoea in the Giro but recovered enough to finish second in that race to Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ). But she fell ill from what sounded like a case of food poisoning just days before the start of the TdFFaZ. “I ate something that made me vomit during one night, and I’m not in a good place again,” she said. “It’s very annoying at the moment.”

She was dropped early on Saturday’s short stage 1, 78.8km from Vannes to Plumelec in the western department of Brittany, and abandoned the race after she’d pedaled 63km. There was also bad news from SD Worx–Protime leader and world champion Lotte Kopecky, who said that she was still suffering from the effects of the back injury that had forced her to drop out of the Giro and would be pursuing stage wins, rather than the yellow jersey. Then Giro winner Longo Borghini dropped out before the start of stage 3 because of an intestinal virus.

That certainly scrambled the race and explained why the UCI rescheduled the Giro next year to put more time between the two Grand Tours. I’m still wondering who thought it was a good idea to have only two weeks before the Grand Tours. Did no one at the UCI think this might have a negative effect on the biggest women’s race on the calendar? Well, it has certainly diminished the race and thrown the spotlight on other GC riders who might give odds-on favourite Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) something of a battle for the big prize.

Except that Vollering crashed heavily near the end of Monday’s stage 3, when at least a dozen riders hit the asphalt in a narrow curve about 3.5 km from the finish line. Several other top riders went down in the crash, including Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), Chloé Dygert (Canyon//SRAM-zondacrypto) and Letizia Paternoster (Liv AlUla Jayco). None of the fallen riders lost any time due to the crash occurring within the final 5 km of the finish line.

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Příspěvek sdílený Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@letourfemmes)

So who’s the new favorite?

Shortly after Vollering crashed on stage 3, Škoda Green Jersey favourite Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx–Protime) took control of the points classification competition with a powerful sprint that left no chance for Vos, who had won the first stage on Saturday. With an ideal lead-out by the hobbled Kopecky, she powered to the line one bike length ahead of Vos, who nevertheless won back the yellow jersey from Kimberley Le Court (AG Insurance–Soudal) because of the bonus seconds. She now leads Le Court by 6 seconds, with Ferrand-Prévot in third, at 12 seconds, and Niewiadoma-Phinney 4 seconds farther back in fourth.

Last year’s winner, Katarzina Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon//SRAM-zondacrypto), is the only uninjured top favorite left in the race and so is the new favorite by default. But she’ll be facing a real battle against French rider Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma–Lease a Bike). The 33-year-old native of Reims won the road race world championship in 2014, switched her focus to off-road cycling in 2015 and went on to win five MTB world championships and world championships in both gravel and cyclo-cross.

She has declared publicly that she intends to win her home race, and with superstar Marianne Vos supporting her, she has a great chance. Another possibility is Puck Pieterse, who also rides MTB and cyclo-cross and won a TdFFaZ stage in 2024, her first appearance in the race. But I doubt that she has the legs to stay with the best climbers on the big mountains.

Wiebes makes a Škoda Green Jersey statement

Shortly after Vollering crashed on stage 3, green jersey favorite Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx–Protime) took control of the points classification competition with a powerful sprint that left no chance for Vos, who had won the first stage on Saturday. With an ideal lead-out by the hobbled Kopecky, she powered to the line one bike length ahead of Vos, who nevertheless won back the yellow jersey from Kimberley Le Court (AG Insurance–Soudal) because of the bonus seconds. She now leads Le Court by 6 seconds, with Ferrand-Prévot in third, at 12 seconds and Niewiadoma-Phinney 4 seconds farther back in fourth.

Le Court had taken the race leader’s yellow jersey on Sunday’s stage 2 because of a gross miscalculation by the peloton, which gifted the victory to the oldest rider in the race, Mavi García. The Liv AlUla Jayco rider won the biggest victory of her 11-year-career after she broke away from the lead group of race favorites 10.8km from the finish line of the 110.4km course from Brest to Quimper. García gradually increased her lead as the riders climbed the category 3 Côte du Chemin de Trohéir (1.2km @ 5.7%) for the second time, and still led by 12 seconds with 2km left to ride.

As the riders tackled the final climb, an uncategorised ascent with a 14% ramp 350 m from the finish line, the gap had grown to 20 seconds, and the pursuit began in earnest. But the chasers had waited too long. They had underestimated the difficulty of the climb and had grossly underestimated García, who crossed the finish line 3 seconds ahead of her chasers, with arms raised and a big smile on her face. Wiebes was the best of the chasing group, while Le Court finished third and became the first non-European rider to wear the yellow jersey in the TdFFaZ.

“I couldn’t believe it. To be honest, I’m still in shock,” Le Court said about becoming the first non-European, African and Mauritian to wear yellow in the new Tour de France Femmes. “It’s never been on my mind that I want to be the first African. It’s a goal that we have with the team and with myself to achieve, to wear yellow… But to achieve that is extremely special, and I want to try and keep African cycling growing.”

Vos just keeps on winning

Coming third on the stage was enough to erase the deficit to Vos, who had beaten her over the line on stage 1 after Ferrand-Prévot had burst into the lead on the uphill finish in Plumelec. The French rider ran out of steam, but Vos surged past her teammate and Le Court to take the 258th victory of her already legendary career, by far the most of any female rider and second-most of any rider in the history of the sport. Only Eddy Merckx, with an amazing 525 victories, has bettered her. And she is still going strong at age 38.

Of course, wearing the yellow jersey is something really special,” she said after the stage. “It was something I didn’t really think about going into the stage. You just want to do as good as possible and be there in the final and see how far you can get.”

Tuesday’s stage 4 may be the last stage in the race that ends in a bunch sprint, as the hills return on Wednesday with three categorised climbs on the last 35 km of the 165.8 km course from Chasseneuil-du-Poitou to Guéret.

Results of Stage 3 2025 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift

Lorena Wiebes, SD Worx–Protime    3:41:47
2. Marianne Vos, Visma–Lease a Bike                                      “
3. Ally Wollaston, FDJ-Suez                                                      “
4. Megan Jastrab, Picnic PostNL                                               “
5. Liane Lippert, Movistar                                                         “
6. Shari Bossuyt, AG Insurance–Soudal                                    “
7. Eline Jansen, VolkerWessels                                                 “
8. Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, Canyon//SRAM-zondacrypto “
9. Noemi Rüegg, EF Education–EasyPost                                 “
10. Lucinda Brand, Lidl-Trek                                                     “