🎥 Elisa Balsamo frustrated after late Tour de France Femmes crash: ‘Always the same rider’

The fact that Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) won the opening stage of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes on Saturday will have been particularly frustrating for Lidl-Trek’s Elisa Balsamo. The Italian sprinter had also made the front group and appeared well placed to challenge for victory, but she was held up by a crash in the finale. It left her visibly frustrated after the finish.

Balsamo was positioned relatively far back in the group when Letizia Paternoster (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Dominika Wlodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ) went down directly in front of her. The fast Italian was forced to put a foot down and lost all her momentum, which effectively ended her chances in such a fast and tightly contested finale.

Speaking to Eurosport after the stage, Balsamo voiced her frustration. “There are riders who keep making the same mistakes. When we look back at previous races, it is always the same person,” she complained, without revealing exactly which rider she was referring to.

The crash appeared to begin with Paternoster, who leaned into Movistar’s Marlen Reusser before slightly losing her balance.

Wlodarczyk, one of UAE’s protected riders, lost 37 valuable seconds in the incident. “We didn’t realise Domi had crashed and, when I did, I thought she was safe because she had crashed inside the final three kilometres… but the three-kilometre rule doesn’t apply today!” white jersey wearer and teammate Paula Blasi explained on the official Tour de France Femmes website.