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Tour de France Femmes breakaway has its day as Yara Kastelijn wins solo

Kopecky defends yellow jersey at midway point of race

July 26, 2023
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Yara Kastelijn, who took the Queen of the Mountains jersey from a breakaway on Stage 2 of the Tour de France Femmes, soloed to victory on Wednesday’s midway point of the second edition. The Fenix-Deceuninck rider jumped up 25 places in the GC to seventh. Stage 4’s top-4 were all Dutch. Lotte Kopecky defended her yellow jersey with grip and elan, and now she leads her teammate Demi Vollering by 43 seconds. Olivia Baril was the top Canadian in 33rd.

The Course

The longest stage of the second edition, Wednesday’s route contained five categorized climbs spread out over 177 km from Cahors to Rodez. The last climb was Cat. 3 Côte de Lavernhe cresting 8.9 km from the finish, although there was a steep rise to the line.

Finally, we had a big breakaway, and some of the 14 riders in the group seemed determined to conduct Queen of the Mountains business. Perhaps Kastelijn wanted the dots back from teammate Julie Van de Velde, but Anouska Koster and Kathrin Hammes had their interests too. By the time they hit the second climb of the day, Cat. 4 Côte de Falgeyras, their lead was 9:40. Koster crested first and took over the QOM lead.

With 55 km and three categorized climbs remaining, the break still held over 9:00. Who would benefit the most GC-wise if the escape survived? Zaaf refugee Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Human Powered Health) was best positioned at +2:21, but Kastelijn and Alice Maria Arzuffi were also both under +4:00. Fifteen kilometers later, the 14 fugitives still had 7:45, Jayco-AlUla pulling the peloton.

Côte de Colombiès was the middle climb, and there Koster again took full QOM points. Even before the penultimate climb of Côte de Moyrazès, the breakaway started to splinter. Yara Kastelijn faced the final climb alone, with Lotte Kopecky free of the favorites group +2:55 and Kastelijn’s breakmates spread all over the road in between.

Kastelijn’s lead grew on the Côte de Lavernhe and she looked home free with 5 km to go. Kopecky had been reabsorbed by a group containing rivals Annemiek van Vleuten, Ashleigh Moolman, last year’s fourth place Juliette Labous and Elisa Longo Borghini.

The Dutch soloist was going to win, it was a question of by how much. She celebrated on her way to the line. Kopecky’s group and Cordon-Ragot’s bunch came together on the final climb.

Thursday is another lumpy affair, with three categorized climbs in the second half of 126 km.

2023 Tour de France Femmes Stage 4
1) Yara Kastelijn (The Netherlands/Fenix-Deceuninck) 4:38:47
2) Demi Vollering (The Netherlands/SD Worx-Protime) s.t.
3) Anouska Koster (The Netherlands/Uno-X) s.t.
33) Olivia Baril (Canada/UAE Team ADQ) +2:46
35) Simone Boilard (Canada/St Michel–Mavic–Auber93) +3:06

2023 Tour de France Femmes GC
1) Lotte Kopecky (Belgium/SD Worx-Protime) 15:47:25
2) Demi Vollering (The Netherlands/SD Worx-Protime) +0:43
3) Ashleigh Moolman (South Africa/AG-Soudal Quick-Step) +0:51