Marianne Vos takes yellow jersey on second stage of Tour de France Femmes

The evergreen Marianne Vos emphatically out-sprinted her five breakaway companions to claim stage two and the yellow jersey in the Tour de France Femmes in Provins. The 35-year-old, beaten to the line on the Champs Élysées on Sunday by overnight race leader, Lorena Wiebes, made no mistake on the uphill sprint, easily distancing Silvia Persico, of the Valcar Travel and Service team.

Vos continued the theme of dominance established in the men’s Tour de France by her Jumbo-Visma team, expertly threading her way through numerous crashes in the final 30km of racing as the peloton negotiated traffic calming, crosswinds and narrow back roads in the Seine-et-Marne region east of Paris.

The pile-ups also eliminated some of her key rivals, including Marta Cavalli, of the FDJ Suez Futuroscope team, who got back on her bike but opted not to continue and abandoned the race. Other fallers included Amanda Spratt, leader of Team BikeExchange Jayco and Slovenian, Urska Zigart, of the UAE Team, who was being watched by partner Tadej Pogacar, from the roadside.

Vos led a group of six clear of the mayhem and on exposed roads and crosswinds, the break built a lead on the finishing circuit that guaranteed they would decide the stage victory. Both the unexpected time gaps between the favourites and the multiple crashes will have ramifications for the days to come.

“We knew we had to be focussed,” Vos said. “We knew we had to be alert on the bell lap because it got narrow and the wind played a role. But I didn’t expect we would break away and stay away. Like yesterday, the team did a perfect lead-out on the Champs Elysées and they brought me perfectly into the sprint. [World champion] Elisa Balsamo attacked and apparently that was the moment to