Dutch rider Charlotte Kool on Monday kept her head amid a chaotic bunched sprint finish to win the first stage of the women’s Tour de France.
“It was really hectic, but I like it. I kept on thinking: ‘Okay I like hectic, I like chaos,’” the 25-year-old said.
Kool, born in North Holland, took the yellow jersey on home soil as the women’s Tour got under way in the Netherlands with a 123km flat ride from Rotterdam to The Hague.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Topping 60kph as she crossed the line, the Team dsm-firmenich PostNL rider claimed her maiden Tour win with an unstoppable surge in the last 100m to complete the stage in a time of two hours 47 minutes and 40 seconds.
“It’s a dream coming true,” Kool said. “It was not an easy season and this is where it was all about... This is I think the best day of my life.”
Finland’s Anniina Ahtosalo of Uno-X Mobility and Italian Elisa Balsamo of Lidl - Trek completed the podium.
The prerace favourite, Lorena Wiebes, fell foul of a problem with the chain of her bike just an agonizing 200m from the finish line, leaving the route open for her compatriot to sprint to her first win of the season.
Reigning Tour champion Demi Vollering of the Netherlands had a quiet day, as did her fellow podium contenders, Poland’s Katarzyna Niewiadoma, and France’s Juliette Labous and Evita Muzic.
CRASH DRAMA
There was drama with 69km still to go when a mass crash in the middle of peloton brought dozens of riders to a halt on a bridge near the Meuse river.
Thankfully none of the competitors were seriously hurt and all were able to remount their bikes and take off again in pursuit of the front half of the peloton.
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