Lizzie Deignan wins La Course by Le Tour de France
Two WorldTour victories in a row for Trek-Segafredo's Brit
Lizzie Deignan became only the second non-Dutch rider to win La Course by Le Tour de France on Saturday, coming around Marianne Vos in Nice, France to take the victory by centimeters. Deignan has now won the last two rounds of the shortened and delayed 2020 WorldTour after claiming Tuesday’s GP de Plouay.
? @lizziedeignan beats @marianne_vos in a photo-finish to take the victory!
? Elizabeth Deignan s'impose de justesse face à Marianne Vos !#LaCourse pic.twitter.com/4GWs63C1jl
— La Course by Le Tour (@LaCoursebyTDF) August 29, 2020
You can find out where to watch the men’s Tour de France here.
The Route
The peloton faced two laps of around 47.5 km around the hills of Nice, each with a Cat. 3 climb of the Cote de Rimiez followed by a longer, uncategorized drag up to Aspremont. The final 24 km would be a slightly downhill.
It's not long until the racing gets underway @LaCoursebyTDF.?
With the flat run in to the finish we could see a reduced bunch sprint finish, but with how aggressive women's racing is, expect to see lots of attacks over the 2 categorised climbs!? pic.twitter.com/po1Zi4TpHy
— Team Sunweb (@TeamSunweb) August 29, 2020
There were four Canadians lining up in Nice: two-time podium achiever Leah Kirchmann and her Sunweb teammate Alison Jackson, Sara Poidevin of Rally and Marie-Soleil Blais of Cogeas-Mettler.
Lap 1
The first ascent of the Cote de Rimiez came quickly after the start. The pace was high, unhitching several riders. Christine Majerus of Boels-Dolmans was first to crest. Canyon-SRAM and Trek-Segafredo kept the pace high on the long drag to Aspremont. The tricky downhill into Nice broke up the peloton even further.
Majerus was in a strong sextet that emerged after the descent, with a group of 20 riders chasing.
6⃣ riders lead at the bottom of the descent, with a 20" lead.
6⃣ coureuses en tête en bas de la descente, avec 20" d'avance.?? Henderson
?? Ludwig
?? Niewiadoma
?? Longo Borghini
?? Majerus
?? Kopecky#LaCourse pic.twitter.com/cuPZBCMOKc— La Course by Le Tour (@LaCoursebyTDF) August 29, 2020
The chase swelled and brought back the move on Le Promenade des Anglais before the race crossed the finish line for the first time.
Lap 2
World and new European champion Annemiek van Vleuten surged on the lower slopes of Rimiez and eight strong riders were able to grab her wheel. At first it looked like Poidevin would be able to make the selection. Van Vleuten kept up the pressure, whittling the lead group down to six, including two Trek riders.
Now 6 in the lead :
Elles sont à présent 6 en tête:
?? @AvVleuten
?? @lizziedeignan
?? @ElisaLongoB
?? @KNiewiadoma
?? @marianne_vos
?? @demivollering#LaCourse pic.twitter.com/VzSfeRdwho— La Course by Le Tour (@LaCoursebyTDF) August 29, 2020
Deignan attacked on the downhill, as Kirchmann led the chase over a minute behind. With 14-km to go it was clear that the day’s winner would come from the breakaway. Polish ace Katarzyna Niewiadoma sat on, and Deignan’s teammate Elisa Longo Borghini drove the sextet.
Longo Borghini attacked on Le Promenade des Anglais at both 2.5 km and 1.7 km to go, but couldn’t shed the rest. Van Vleuten attacked at the red kite, dropping only Longo Borghini, but the Italian came back to make one last surge. Vos passed her and looked like she was taking the race, but Deignan came around her left side and a bike throw made the difference.
Kirchmann was the top Canadian at 23rd.
2020 La Course by Le Tour de France
1) Lizzie Deignan (Great Britain/Trek-Segafredo) 2:22:51
2) Marianne Vos (The Netherlands/CCC) s.t.
3) Demi Vollering (The Netherlands/Parkhotel Valkenburg) s.t.
23) Leah Kirchmann (Canada/Sunweb) +1:50
