Major surprise in Tour de France Femmes: Oldest rider in the peloton, Garcia, stays ahead of the favorites

Brittany is the perfect setting for the first stages of the Tour de France Femmes. The first stage was a delightful hilly spectacle, where Marianne Vos prevailed on the difficult finish in Plumelec. But the second stage was even tougher: from Brest to Quimper, the riders would once again face some serious climbs. Could Vos defend her yellow jersey?

The hilly terrain made it attractive for the attackers to make their move. There were quite a few breakaways from the start, but in the end, only two riders managed to get away. Franziska Koch (Picnic PostNL) and Aude Biannic (Movistar) took the lead. Visma | Lease a Bike was happy with this and stayed in control from behind. It was a relatively quiet start to the stage, but that would not stay that way.

At the intermediate sprint in Châteaulin, we got a taste of what was to come: Vos and Lorena Wiebes fought for green points, and the European champion narrowly won the battle. Immediately after that came a third-category climb, where Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco) gave it her all for the mountain points. She managed to keep mountain queen Elise Chabbey (FDJ-SUEZ) behind her, leaving her just one point behind the Swiss rider. The attack marked the end of Koch and Biannic's breakaway from the group.

Smulders and Chabbey saw their chance and went for it. The chasing peloton was now down to only 40 riders: Lotte Kopecky was not among them. The world champion from SD Worx-Protime had already not been at her best in stage 1, and now she didn't seem to be feeling good either. That group did come back, but the signs were not good. Meanwhile, the leaders were joined by Maud Rijnbeek (VolkerWessels).

When Chabbey and Smulders went back to battle for the mountain points, the Dutch rider couldn't keep up. Rijnbeek had also been ahead on Saturday, and her legs seemed to be getting tired. Smulders had to admit defeat in the next mountain sprints to her Swiss rival, who secured the polka dot jersey for a few more days. Later, Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) managed to close the gap, bringing the number of women at the front back to three.

Meanwhile, the peloton was getting nervous as the wind began to pick up. Suddenly, Kopecky was back in front, and the Belgian powered away. There was no split in the pack, so calm returned somewhat. Kimberley Le Court found herself in trouble after a clumsy crash, but she was able to return to the peloton without any problems. It was time for the final, which began 25 kilometers from the finish.

The first attack came from defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma (CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto). She was followed by Saturday's number 3, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma | Lease a Bike). They didn't get very far: they were caught 20 kilometers from the finish. Not much later, Riejanne Markus managed to pull away. The Dutch rider from Lidl-Trek closed the gap to the leading group on her own.

Could the four surprise the fast-approaching peloton? No, because Visma | Lease a Bike did a tremendous job in the chase. As a result, the adventure was over with about 12 kilometers to go. It called for a new attack: Mavi Garcia, the oldest rider in the pack at 41, set off with 10 kilometers to go. The Spaniard from Liv AlUla Jayco quickly opened up a gap. In no time, she had a 20-second lead...

Did the peloton underestimate the veteran? The most challenging part of the final was yet to come: the last categorized climb was 4.5 kilometers from the finish. On the Côte du Chemin de Trohéir, the lone attacker quickly lost time: the women in the GC were at the front. An attack by Vollering before the top stretched the field out, causing Elisa Longo Borghini and Kopecky to fall behind, but it did not cause any further damage. And Garcia still had a gap.

She was the first to start the descent and rushed towards the difficult final kilometer. The pace faltered in the chase. Was it a huge stunt in the making? With about 15 seconds to go, she started the final climb, but Kopecky, who had returned, increased the pace again. Anna van der Breggen took over, and suddenly it became tough for Garcia.

Niewiadoma accelerated in the final kilometer: the Spaniard saw the chasers closing in dangerously. Wiebes and Vos were still in good shape, as were Le Court, Vollering, Lippert, and co. Were they too late? Ferrand-Prévot led the sprint, but it was Garcia who crossed the line solo, ahead of Wiebes and Le Court.