Dutch domination: Wiebes wins again to extend green lead, Vos finishes second and keeps yellow

After a spectacular opening weekend, with victories for Marianne Vos and Mavi Garcia, it was finally time for the fast women on Monday. Wiebes won stage three in the sprint, which was disrupted by a crash in the final phase, with Demi Vollering as the main victim. The Dutch leader of FDJ-SUEZ was back in action on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, it was expected to be another day for the fast women in the 130.7-kilometer stage from Saumur to Poitiers. The terrain was practically flat, which meant that the wind could well be the sprinters' most dangerous enemy. From the start, we saw numerous attacks.

Nevertheless, it took a long time before any riders actually managed to break away. With about 100 kilometers to go, it was Dutch rider Maud Rijnbeek (Volkerwessels) who was the first to succeed, after which the 22-year-old from Amsterdam was joined by Franziska Koch (Picnic PostNL) and Ana Vitória Magalhães (Movistar).

The trio did not get much of a lead from the peloton, which seemed to keep the gap at around two minutes. SD Worx-Protime naturally took the lead, with Wiebes aiming for her second stage win and also the green jersey. Eventually, with just over 65 kilometers to go, the peloton was split up by the wind.

A chaotic phase followed, in which Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) was among those who missed the action. The echelons did not last long, but the pace in the peloton was so high that the lead group's advantage was quickly reduced. Due to the very high pace, Rijnbeek was caught by the peloton just over 50 kilometers from the finish.

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Not much later, Wiebes appeared to easily beat Vos in the intermediate sprint, as there were still a lot of points up for grabs with only two riders in the breakaway. This strengthened the European champion's lead in the points classification, with 50 points still up for grabs at the finish.

It came down to a sprint, because after Koch and Magalhães were caught in the last ten kilometers, the trains could be formed. Nienke Vinke (Picnic PostNL) and Kristen Faulkner (EF) had to miss out after crashes just before the safe five kilometers. After another 600 meters of climbing at an average gradient of 6 percent, everyone reached the final kilometer safely, ready for a sprint. On an uphill section, Wiebes powered to victory, and Vos finished in second place.