As it happened: Kopecky leads out Wiebes to Tour de France Femmes stage 3 victory

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- Tour de France Femmes 2023 Stage 3 preview: The sprinters come out to play

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 3 of the 2023 Tour de France Femmes!

The riders are currently completing sign-ons and the team presentation in Collonges-la-Rouge ahead of the neutralised roll out at 13:20 CEST.

Jumbo-Visma are the current team on stage and Marianne Vos has just stated how glad she was that Eva van Agt is okay after she was forced to abandon due to a  dangerous high-speed crash on the wet descent yesterday. Read the update on her injuries below.

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There's a lovely happy birthday reception for Silvia Persico (UAE ADQ) on stage.

We're now under half an hour from the start of stage 3 which should be a day for the sprinters.

Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT) has just spoke on stage in her white jersey. She leads the youth classification by 1:21 ahead of Ella Wyllie (Lifeplus Wahoo).

Make sure to read Lukas Knöfler's piece about her to find out more about the young French rider and how she held onto her jersey after a tough second stage.
Kerbaol defends Tour de France Femmes white jersey in headwinds of stage 2

Alison Jackson (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) still looks as happy as ever before the start in her Canadian national champion's jersey despite crashing hard yesterday. Veronica Ewers next to her had some late mechanical problems yesterday, but was able to make it back towards the front and should still be heavily involved in the GC battle.

Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) has just taken the stage for her second day in the maillot jaune and today she is fully kitted out in the all yellow skin suit.

The riders are nearly all lined up ahead of the big start of stage 3.

Here's a final look at the 147.2km profile before we get started. Five categorised climbs are littered along the route, but it should still be a day for the sprinters. Expect Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) to get into any break that forms to try and defend and build on her lead in the QOM classification.

Stage 3 of the 2023 Tour de France Femmes is underway! We'll have a neutralised period of riding before the flag is dropped at 13:35 CEST.

Here's the typical start line selfie by yesterday's stage winner, Liane Lippert (Movistar) and our four jersey wearers: Ashleigh Moolman (AG Insurance-Soudal QuickStep), Kopecky, Kastelijn and Kerbaol.

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Unfortunately we've had another DNS as Špela Kern (Cofidis) has had to leave the race with a dislocated thumb. 148 riders took the start today.

A look at Kastelijn in the fantastic polka-dot jersey.

147.2KM TO GO

Official start given on stage 3! Attacks start straight from the flag being waved.

Arkéa-Samsic have been the most active team so far, but without success yet. The bunch is still all together.

Kathrin Hammes (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) is the next two try and she has a gap of 10 seconds currently.

140KM TO GO

Hammes now has a 20 second lead.

Another abandonment in the opening few kilometres of the stage.

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Here's Kopecky decked out in yellow alongside her SD Worx team before the start.

125KM TO GO

The riders are approaching the first of five categorised climbs of the day: the Côte du Peyroux.

Counter attacks were attempted try and bridge to Hammes, but she remains alone, 1:50 ahead of the peloton.

After our lone leader completes the 4.8km climbs that averages 4% in gradient, she'll have a small descent before getting straight into the second climb of the stage, the Côte de Pératel (2km at 5.3%).

Here's Hammes on her solo adventure out in front. Her gap has increased to 2:05 over the first climb.

120KM TO GO

Hammes cleans up the maximum haul of QOM points over the first climb.

A small group of riders are struggling off the back of the peloton including the lantern rouge, Lucie Jounier (Coop-Hitec Products) who was suffering with abdominal pain yesterday.

Puncture for Megan Jastrab (DSM-Firmenich).

Counter attack out of the peloton from Grace Brown (FDJ-SUEZ).

115KM TO GO

A reaction from behind has brought Brown back into the bunch and reduced Hammes' group to 1:40.

Jounier has now unfortunately abandoned the race after getting dropped early on. 146 riders remain in the race.

The riders are about to go through Saint-Germain-les-Vergnes, where road furniture hopefully doesn't cause any issues.

110KM TO GO

We've had some movement in the polka-dot jersey classification, as Hammes has accumulated five points, Koster has gained three and Kastelijn one point over the first two climbs.

Kastelijn still leads now on eight points, but Koster has moved into second on six and Hammes into joint third with Julie Van de Velde (Fenix-Deceuninck) on five.

Counter attack by Maaike Colké (Arkéa-Samsic) from out of the peloton.

SD Worx domestiques Christine Majerus and Mischa Bredewold will be on duty the majority of the day to protect their sprinter and European Champion, Lorena Wiebes.

Jastrab and Thalita de Jong (Liv Racing TeqFind)  are back in the peloton after their respective mechanicals.

105KM TO GO

There's been a significant amount of attempted moves, but none have stuck and Hammes still leads solo, albeit with a reduced gap of now only 45 seconds.

The riders are continuing their journey north through Perpezac-le-Noir before turning left and heading west after passing Vigeois.

100KM TO GO

Coryn Labecki (Jumbo-Visma) has moved off the front and attacked for the second time today to try and bridge to Hammes. She's 25 seconds behind her with the bunch a further 15 back.

Small groups are splitting at the back of the peloton.

The reason for Marte Berg Edseth's abandonment earlier was due to illness.

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Labecki has got 1:00 ahead of the peloton who let her go this time, but she still sits 40 seconds in arrears of Hammes.

Hammes is closing in on the foot of third categorised climb of the day, the Côte de L'Escurotte (2.6km at 4.7%).

90KM TO GO

Situation remains the same as they hit the climb, Hammes 57 seconds ahead of Labecki, with the peloton a further 43 seconds behind her.

Here's one of the earlier counter-attackers, Grace Brown (FDJ-SUEZ). She wasn't given as much freedom as Labecki and was shut down pretty swiftly from attempting to bridge to Hammes.

Hammes takes two more QOM points over the Côte de L'Escurotte. She's now sat in second in that classification and only one point behind Kastelijn as Labecki mopped up the other solitary point.

85KM TO GO

The bunch is closing in on Labecki whose second chasse patate is coming to an end. She tried twice to bridge to Hammes with no success.

The peloton has made that turn after Vigeois and started heading west.

Van de Velde and Amber Kraak (ambo-visma) have both upped the pace as the bunch approaches Hammes' back wheel.

80KM TO GO

All back together in the peloton with Hammes reeled in. A lot of attacks have started to fly since she was caught.

Mechanical for Morgane Coston (Cofidis) at the back of the peloton.

Canyon SRAM are very active at the front of proceedings. Kopecky is sat towards the front in the yellow jersey and is marking moves alongside Lizzie Deignan (Lidl-Trek).

Alicia Maria Arzuffi (Ceratizit-WNT) is the next rider to attack off the front. She's being reeled in by a small group.

75KM TO GO

Lauretta Hanson (Lidl-Trek) hits the accelerator at the front, great to see her still able to do so after a hard crash yesterday. Anna Henderson (Jumbo-Visma) is directly behind her, but things are all back together again.

Speeds are very high as of now and up towards 60km/h as the next waves of attacks start. Brown has tried another move, but Riejanne Markus (Jumbo-Visma) shut her down straight away.

Racing calms momentarily as the riders pass the litter zone.

SD Worx hit the front with Majerus. Kopekcy is sat in second wheel with Wiebes right behind her.

65KM TO GO

Reusser takes over as they navigate a small descent section that precedes the next two categorised climbs.

Here's Reusser getting stuck into her work on the front in the Swiss national champion's jersey.

Mechanical for Elizabeth Stannard (Israel-Premier Tech Roland).

SD Worx are, quite unusually for them, really taking control on the front with their riders all highlighted by yellow helmets as they lead the team's classification.

Van de Velde attacks off of this SD Worx pace once again in pursuit of QOM points. She's quickly opened up a 10 second gap.

Barbieri is the first of the sprinters to start struggling over the day's parcours which is far from completely flat.

Van de Velde crossed the crest of the Côte des Andrieux first and took the maximum two points, but Kastleijn was unable to out-sprint Koster for the remaining one point.

Kastelijn still leads the QOM classification, but only by one point ahead of teammate Van de Velde, Hammes and Koster.

55KM TO GO

Kopecky is marking moves herself in the yellow jersey which suggests SD Worx are all in for a Wiebes sprint.

The riders are on the final categorised climb of the day, the Côte de Saint-Robert.

Van de Velde takes the two QOM points and will wear the polka-dot jersey tomorrow. She does well to keep it in the Fenix-Deceuninck team.

Niewiadoma uses the QOM sprint to attack over the top. She's got a gap from the peloton behind her.

Henderson and Reusser are doing the chasing behind for Vos and Wiebes respectively.

50KM TO GO

Nearly all back together as Niewiadoma's move is stifled by Reusser and Henderson. Van de Velde still has a 22 second advantage alone at the front.

Movistar and SD Worx are dominating positions at the front of the peloton for now.

Van de Velde is building her advantage nicely at the head of the race. She has 44 seconds with 46km left to race.

The peloton has allowed Van de Velde to build a 1:30 advantage at the head of the race, and she'll be quite happy there given her time trial skills. She's often finished right up there in the Belgian TT national champs race which has been won by Kopecky on many of those occasions.

40KM TO GO

Bit of a mess going on with the Fenix-Deceuninck team car trying to pass through the peloton on a bit of road not wide enough for it.Thankfully, disaster was avoided and they can now get to support Van de Velde.

A look back at the peloton on stage 3.

Front wheel change for Emma Norsgaard (Movistar). Curious to not change the whole bike, but clearly they don't want to mess with the Danish rider's setup.

Van de Velde's gap has gone out to 2:07 with SD Worx coming into full formation at the head of the peloton. They won't want to give her too much of an advantage.

Norsgaard is back into the peloton safely without too much energy wasted.

30KM TO GO

We've had a crash at the back of the peloton after a swell. Labecki is down and Cecchini was also involved. Labecki is taking a moment and is not yet back on her bike.

Thankfully, Labecki has remounted and can hopefully roll back into the finish safely and recover later today.

DSM-Firmenich have taken up the mantle of chasing with one of SD Worx's domestiques involved in that crash. 2:24 is the gap for Van de Velde.

Van de Velde has been part of Fenix-Deceuninck's clear plan to target the polka-dot jersey over the opening three stages. Her and Kastelijn were on the move yesterday for QOM points and today Van de Velde has kicked on and will wear the famous polka-dots tomorrow.

DSM are doing the most chasing for now, but Reusser is close behind and should be able to reduce Van de Velde's advantage significantly with a big pull on the front.

25KM TO GO

Van de Velde takes the maximum 25 points over the intermediate sprint.

Wiebes takes the remaining second-place points ahead of Moolman and Kopecky.

Henderson kicks on with an attack after the IS point, but Kopecky jumps straight to her wheel and calms it down again.

Deignan slips off the front momentarily with Boilard, but Canyon SRAM don't let it get anywhere. The riders are on a plateau section which precedes the final descent and flat run to the line.

Are we going to see a late attack from Canyon SRAM in the wind to try and split the peloton?

20KM TO GO

Splits have formed under the pressure of Canyon SRAM and the acceleration has also reduced Van de Velde's advantage to 1:10. DSM-Firmenich now take over at the front.

Van de Velde is grimacing in pain at the head of the race, but she does still have 1:04 over the peloton.

DSM-Firmenich are really putting on the pace in pursuit of the lone leader. Their sole focus will be placed on delivering Charlotte Kool to sprint glory.

15KM TO GO

The peloton is coming off of the final descending section and DSM are cutting this gap down very quickly. SD Worx have done well to avoid doing the majority of work as they so often do despite having the strongest team.

It looks as though Van de Velde is close to being caught as another 10 seconds is shaved off her lead, but it's still a very successful day for her and Fenix-Deceuninck as they have kept the polka-jot jersey within the team.

10KM TO GO

DSM-Firmenich are still working on the front of the peloton for Kool. They've got a fantastic leadout train, but won't want to waste all their riders before the finale.

SD Worx are happily sat in the wheels of DSM for now, but will have to pick their moment to move up safely to give Wiebes a sprinting lane.

Van de Velde still has 28 seconds of a lead. DSM are having to work incredibly hard to bring her back.

5KM TO GO

This is far from over for the Belgian out in front. Slightly confusing that SD Worx have not put their whole contingent of remaining riders to pull her back for Wiebes.

The gap to Van de Velde is going out! She's got 36 seconds.

You can see the pain on her face at the front of the race as tries to hold off this charging peloton.

DSM are still doing the chasing with AG Insurance next to them. What are SD Worx doing?

Here they come, the yellow helmets are showing themselves now perhaps realising that they must contribute if they are going to catch Van de Velde and let Wiebes sprint.

2KM TO GO

Reusser is on the front now with Kopecky barking orders behind. Bredewold takes over. Can they catch Van de Velde?

We've got a series of roundabouts incoming with a 20 second gap from the leader to the peloton.

DSM come back to the front and the pace is incredibly high in the peloton.

1KM TO GO

Van de Velde is seriously suffering on her own as she goes under the flamme rouge with a slim nine second advantage. Can she make it?

She's gritting her teeth, but Pfeiffer Georgi has hit the front for Kool.

Here come Lidl-Trek for Balsamo on the right!

Final corner taken and it's 600m remaining for Van de Velde.

The sprint is coming and she's going to be caught!

Kopecky leads out Wiebes and she kicks for the line!

STAGE FINISH

Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) wins stage 3 of the Tour de France Femmes! 

What a leadout from Kopecky and the European Champion takes it and breaks Van de Velde's heart.

Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) was the closest, but Wiebes was still far ahead enough to raise her arms over the finish line and take her third Tour de France Femmes stage victory. Kopecky crossed the line in third after a tremendous leadout in the yellow jersey.

Here's what stage winner, Lorena Wiebes had to say after winning the third stage:

"Lotte [Kopecky] did such a good job in the leadout, I actually already suffered in her wheel. She brought me perfectly."

"The breakaway was of course still gone with 1 kilometre to go. We took the corner good, all the time I stayed with Lotte and the plan was that she would go and deliver me good and that's exactly how she did."

"I felt Marianne [Vos] start the sprint on the right of me and then I was able to catch her."

"We felt it was not really up to us start the chase because we still have some hard days to go and we want to not let the other girls go full out and DSM did it [the chasing] and we helped towards the end when we felt it was really necessary."

SD Worx have now won two of the three stages and lead both the yellow and green jersey classifications.

"It's a great start, we are really happy with this and we hope to continue in this way."

Here's what second-place Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) had to say after missing being unable to outspent Wiebes:

"At first there was no organisation, but Julie Van de Velde also had a real good moment, she was really strong. once there was pace in the peloton we gained some time back, but in the end she did a really, really gutsy ride."

"In the last three, four kilometres it looked like we were not going to make it, but the speed went up really high and there were several trains trying to get up. DSM did a lot of work and we all tried to be there in the mix and try to stay safe and in the front which wasn't easy."

"It was not easy being there today, so happy to at least contest it. Happy with the work, the girls did a great job all day being attentive for breaks and then still being there for the leadout in the final."

"Of course, you want to try and give your all, but yeah Lorena [Wiebes] was the fastest today."

Vos also spoke on the importance of the Tour de France Femmes:

"You only have to look around and see how big it is, feel the atmosphere. Its beautiful to be part of the Tour de France and it's amazing how the world has embraced it actually. Everyday you suffer, but it's great to be a part of it.

Full results from today's stage via FirstCycling.

DSM-Firmenich kept spirits high after all their work came to a disappointing seventh place finish for Kool. She was unable to find a lane in the final straight and got slightly stuck on the barriers behind Alexandra Mandly (Jayco AlUla).

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Questions were raised when Wiebes signed for SD Worx last year on whether her and Kopecky could combine properly in sprints. In stage 1 Kopecky's attack was perfectly timed and Wiebes could latch onto the chasing group that wouldn't cooperate for a 1-2 SD Worx finish

On today's stage Kopecky folded perfectly into a domestique role, chased down attacks and did a seriously good piloting job and full leadout for Wiebes, allowing her to sprint to the team's second victory of the week. Synergy from the two superstars.

Make sure you read Daniel Ostanek's full race report which summarises the day's racing alongside a gallery of the key moments.

Tour de France Femmes: Lorena Wiebes outkicks Marianne Vos to swipe stage 3 victory

It wasn't to be for Van de Velde with the stage victory, but her incredible solo effort did earn her enough QOM points to put her into the lead of the mountain's classification and the polka-dot jersey.

Here's a look at the profile for tomorrow's stage which should be a cracker. It's the longest stage of the race and one that builds in difficulty as the kilometres tick by. The GC riders may want to take the seconds available at that bonus, and the final few climbs could see action in the GC kick off with a punchier rider most suited to the finale.

That wraps things up for Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 3 of the Tour de France Femmes which was won by SD Worx's Lorena Wiebes. Check back tomorrow for live coverage of the fourth stage starting in Cahors and finishing in Rodez.

In the meantime, make sure you check out all the news and content being produced by our team on the ground in France.