We are only a few days away from the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, and this is a big week for content. The route preview went live yesterday, but in terms of other content: First, a feature on Alice Towers of EF Education-Oatly written by the one and only Matt de Neef. Next, a conversation with Antonia Niedermaier of Canyon-SRAM about her Giro d'Italia, her introduction into the sport, and her best friend on four legs. After that, Niamh Fisher-Black told me about her rise as a GC contender, what she loves about Lidl-Trek, and what she learned from SD Worx-Protime. Plus a few other stories thrown in for good measure and a contender's preview on Friday.
All the interviews will also be available via podcast, so it will feel like daily episodes in the week before the Tour, happy days!
Abby Mickey | Senior Editor
First things first: The Tour of Poland
Three days of racing in Poland and three more races for Lorena Wiebes to add to her tally. Safe to say the best sprinter in the world is going into the Tour de France Femmes not only with good legs but also a bucket full of confidence. The same cannot be said for the other sprinters who attended the three-stage event.
Unfortunately, the first stage was massively impacted by a crash in the finale that took out a good number of riders, including Lidl-Trek's Elisa Balsamo. She was able to get up and keep racing, and luckily only three riders didn't finish the stage.
Because of the crash, a few riders found their way to top-10 results, like sisters Alyssa and Katherine Sarkisov from the USA national team.
Throughout the second stage, riders did their best to keep Wiebes from another win, but it came down to a bunch sprint in the end that meant an inevitable victory for the Dutch powerhouse.
The roundabout in the final 1.8 km destroyed most of the sprint trains, and the upper hand was with Balsamo, leaving UAE Team L'IMAD's Lara Gillespie out to dry in the final 900 meters, but Wiebes couldn't be bested, and her teammates were especially impressive organizing themselves in that final straight.
Gillespie still held on for second ahead of Balsamo, which was incredible, and there were some exciting riders in the top 10, like Estonian national champ Elisabeth Ebras of Lotto-Intermarché in fifth and Nika Bobnar of NEXETIS in sixth. Olga Wankiewicz, who finished fifth in stage 1, backed it up with eighth in stage 2.
Human Powered Health did a fantastic leadout for Maggie Coles-Lyster going into the finale of the final stage, but SD Worx-Protime were able to take over in the final 800 metres and bring Wiebes to yet another stage win. Lotte Kopecky was back to her old ways of leading out her Dutch teammate, which could mean she's feeling a bit better going into the Tour than she was at the Belgian nationals.
Balsamo held on for second place ahead of Gillespie, and after her team's hard work, Coles-Lyster came away fifth.
It seems like the Giro was a brief period of non-Wiebes domination, but come Tour time, she will be back on the top step if any of the stages come down to a sprint. That said, it is extremely unlikely they will. Even the flattest stage of the race will be hard to control, and comes the day after Ventoux.
For the rest of the sprinters, it's back to the drawing board. There were some days at Baloise Ladies Tour where we got to see what a sprint would be like without Wiebes, but when she's in the race, Balsamo, Gillespie, and the rest can't come close.
Racing continues...
At the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift!
Abby Mickey
Wheel Talk podcast
In case the written breakdown of the course is not your jam, we also broke down the parcours in detail on the podcast on Monday.
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