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Yet another break tries to go clear as Gladys Verhulst (Le Col-Wahoo) scrapes up a lead of roughly 20 seconds.
19 kilometers to go
Markus claims the points for the Mountains ranking.
Marta Lach (Ceratizit-WNT), Femke Markus (Parkhotel Valkenburg) and Anne Dorth Ysland (Uno-X ProCycling) move away just before the Mountains classification.
A flurry of more attacks as we approach the Mountains classification ‘summit’, situated in the ninth lap.
Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) takes the second and last intermediate sprint.
27 kilometers to go
The two are reeled in .
Henrietta Christie (Human Powered Health) moves across to Allin at the front. But the peloton are barely 16 seconds behind the leading duo and the second intermediate sprint is fast approaching.
And here’s another iconic picture from today’s stage.
32 kilometers to go
The second intermediate sprint is approaching fast and Allin’s gap is dropping equally quickly.
36 kilometers to go
And after a flurry of unsuccessful counter-attacks, Allin’s gap has dropped to a scant 12 seconds.
38 kilometers to go
And the gap between Pauline Allin (Arkea-Samsic) and the bunch hovers at around the 22 second mark.
43 kilometers to go
Another solo break goes clear for Arkea-Samsic as Pauline Allin of France gains 20 seconds on the bunch.
47 kilometers to go
Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) takes the sprint ahead of Lorena Wiebes (DSM)
And the gap has evaporated completely. Bunch all together and Jumbo-Visma are leading the string.
49 kilometers to go
Jumbo-Visma and SD Worx have moved to the front of the bunch and have squeezed down the gap held by Emily Newsom (EF-Education-Tibco-SVB) and Micha Bredewold (Parkhotel Valkenburg) to a scant 12 seconds.
It’s getting hotter out there, reaching 31 degrees, according to the official website.
52 kilometers to go
Emily Newsom (EF-Education-Tibco-SVB) and Micha Bredewold (Parkhotel Valkenburg) have a 40 second advantage on the peloton
One of the first photos of the opening stage
58 kilometers to go
And the gap has now opened for 20 seconds.
Another move finally opens up a small gap, with Emily Newsom (EF-Education-Tibco-SVB) and Micha Bredewold (Parkhotel Valkenburg) with a lead of 10 seconds.
60 kilometers to go
Yet more moves are ebbing and flowing but nothing is managing to stick yet
62 kilometers to go
65 kilometers to go
Almost as soon as the 7 rider move ends, there’s another breakaway, this time a solo move by Laura Asencio (Ceratizit-WNT ProCycling)
The seven rider move, including Anais Morichon (Arkea-Samsic), has been extinguished by DSM who have Lorena Wiebes as one of the favorites for a potential bunch sprint.
69 kilometers to go
And we have the first break of the day: a seven rider move is off the front.
And there’s also a mountains classification on offer on the ninth lap.
Worth noting that during this stage there are two intermediate sprints on the fifth and eighth laps of the Champs-Élysées.
75 kilometers to go
Five kilometers into the race and no major movements yet.
And so it begins. The riders begin the 81.7 kilometer stage 1 of the Tour de France Women.
Let’s not forget, either, that Vos was the first winner of La Course back in 2014, held over a very similar course in central Paris.
My colleague Kirsten Frattini has written this great interview with Marianne Vos about the Tour de France Women. Highly recommended.
Marianne Vos: Tour de France is bigger than sports
The riders begin the neutralized section of stage 1 of the Tour de France Women and after months of build-up, the race is, at long last, underway.
After multiple expressions of delight and emotion at their opportunity to be taking part in the first edition of such a key event for cycling, the riders are moving towards the neutralized start. Two minutes to go.
Weather is dry and warm, temperatures out there according to the official race website are 28.8 Celsius. There’s a bit of a breeze, but not too strong, just 11kmh.
The first stage of the Tour de France Women with Zwift is 81.6km long, running on the famous circuit on the Champs-Élysées. The neutralized start is at 13:30 and then there is a 5.3 kilometer neutralized section, prior to racing getting underway at 13:40.
To read our analysis of today’s opening stage on Cyclingnews, look no further than
Tour de France Women 2022 – stage 1 preview
Hello and welcome to the Cyclingnews live coverage of stage 1 of the 2022 Tour de France Women.