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131km to go: As the riders head towards the only categorised climb of the day, the category four Côte de la Richardière (1.7km at 4.6%), the situation looks like this: Four riders (Jackson, Latimier, Martín and Soto Campos) have a gap of 2mins 35secs on the peloton, while behind the breakaway, the chasers (Avoine and Brauße) have joined together and are 1min 40secs behind the quartet.
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137km to go: The breakaway of four (Jackson, Latimier, Martín and Soto Campos) have increased the gap to the peloton and are now 1min 45secs ahead. Alison Avoine of St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93 gives chase as does Franziska Brauße (Ceratizit Pro Cycling).
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141km to go: Aude Biannic tries to join her Movistar teammate in the breakaway. She’s 10secs ahead of the peloton but 55secs behind the four out front.
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144km to go: A group of counterattackers go after the four out the front but it’s not long before they’re caught up by the peloton. The gap to the bunch grows to 35secs for the breakaway.
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148km to go: Brauße’s attack doesn’t stick and she’s also swallowed up by the peloton. It’s been a lively start with plenty of small attacks but the peloton is on high alert. Saying that though, a group of four manage to get away. It includes, EF Education-Oatly’s Alison Jackson, Arkéa-B&B Hotels’ Clémence Latimier, Movistar’s Sara Martín and Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi’s Catalina Soto Campos. They have about 20secs on the bunch.
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154km to go: Franziska Brauße (Ceratizit Pro Cycling) is the next to give it a go. So far, she’s managed a 10sec gap on the peloton. A couple of other riders try to bridge across.
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157km to go: Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) attacks and manages to briefly get ahead, but the peloton swiftly reel her back in.
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The racing has begun!
160km to go: And we’re off! Without Longo Borghini, 146 riders set off as the race flag is dropped.
The riders head out for stage three. Photograph: Szymon Gruchalski/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 08.28 EDT
Elisa Longo Borghini withdraws from the race
Elisa Longo Borghini of UAE Team ADQ will not start today due to illness. The Italian champion’s team issued this statement on social media:
Unfortunately, Elisa Longo Borghini will not start stage three of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift due to a gastrointestinal infection. After fighting through the first two stages, her condition worsened and, together with the team, she made the tough decision to withdraw.
Elisa Longo Borghini (right) during the second stage. Photograph: Szymon Gruchalski/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 08.01 EDT
Today’s rollout has begun
Stage three of the Tour de France Femmes 2025 is under way. The peloton have rolled out from La Gacilly. There’s a short 2.6km neutralised section before the racing begins.
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The race radio has just chimed in, saying that racing on stage three will get under way in six minutes. There’s no live TV coverage of today’s stage for me until later, so updates will be coming via the official race radio and centre for the start.
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Updated at 07.53 EDT
And who’s wearing which jersey:
Yellow jersey – Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 4hrs 37mins 25secs
Green jersey – Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), 71pts
Polka dot jersey – Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez), 10pts
White jersey – Julie Bego (Cofidis), 4hrs 38mins 13secs
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Here’s a reminder of the top ten on GC after stage two:
Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 4hrs 37mins 25secs
Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), 4hrs 37mins 25secs
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike), +6secs
Katarzyna Niewiadoma Phinney (Canyon/SRAM), +10secs
Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), +13secs
Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), +15secs
Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx Protime), +15secs
Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck), +19secs
Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek), +19secs
Chloé Dygert (Canyon/SRAM), +19secs
Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) of Mauritius finished third in yesteday’s stage so took the overall leader’s yellow jersey. The Dutch rider Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), who wore the leader’s jersey after winning Saturday’s opening stage, finished fifth and surrendered her overall lead to Le Court Pienaar.
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Stage three is the second longest stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. Here is the route profile:
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Updated at 07.27 EDT
Stage three: La Gacilly to Angers, 163km
Here’s a look at today’s stage, Monday 28 July: La Gacilly to Angers, 163.5km, with the race director of the Tour de France Femmes, Marion Rousse:
La Gacilly hosted both the 2023 Tour de l’Avenir and this year’s Tour de Bretagne. This stage start in front of the covered market is a logical and well deserved continuation of that trend. A little further on, memories of Tour stage starts in 1983 and 2004 will be rekindled at Châteaubriant, which is home to a well-renowned club and an operational velodrome. After racing on country roads with no significant difficulties, the riders are very likely to serve up a bunch sprint for the fans in Angers.
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Preamble
Today’s 163.5km flat stage is being heralded as a day for the sprinters, with flat roads to Angers resulting in a classic bunch sprint. There’s a category four climb (1.7km at 4.6%) at 34km in and an intermediate sprint later on, at 123.9km. However, the final run to the finish line is technical, with a number of sharp corners in the last kilometre. The final is technical, though, with multiple sharp corners in the last 1.2 km of the stage.
Eyes will be on SD Worx-Protime’s Lorena Wiebes after she was denied a sprint finish on stage two by Mavi García’s breakaway. Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), Ally Wollaston (FDJ-Suez) and Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) could be Wiebes’s main challengers. I would love to know your thoughts on the race so far and any predictions you have for today’s stage – you can get in touch via the email linked at the top of the page.
The riders will begin with a neutralised start at 1.50pm CET/12.50pm BST, with the finish expected at approximateLy 5.30pm CET/4.30pm BST. While we wait for the peloton to get going, here’s a recap of yesterday’s events:
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