The veteran Spanish rider Mavi García claimed victory in a demanding second stage of the Tour de France Femmes on Sunday, attacking solo in the closing kilometres to secure a dramatic win in Quimper after a 110.4km ride from Brest.
The 41-year-old Liv-AlUla-Jayco rider launched her decisive move with 10km remaining, opening a gap of about 20 seconds on the chasing pack. She held on through the explosive final climb, crossing the line three seconds ahead of her pursuers.
“I can’t believe it to be honest,” said García. “I’ve had a hard year. I’ve been racing for a long time and I hadn’t been having my best year, but this win really gives me a massive boost of energy. I really didn’t believe I was going to win at the end, I’ve tried many times like that and it never worked out, so I just couldn’t believe it until I was five metres from the line and I turned around and saw they wouldn’t catch me. It was only then that I knew I’d really done it. It’s been a long, long time since I had any feeling this good in my career.”
Behind García, Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx Protime) sprinted to second place, with Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) of Mauritius finishing third and taking the overall leader’s yellow jersey. The Dutch rider Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), who wore the leader’s jersey after winning Saturday’s opening stage, finished fifth and surrendered her overall lead to Le Court Pienaar. France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prévot took eighth after featuring prominently in the finale for the second day in a row.
The final climb was lit up by attacks from the local favourite Juliette Labous (FDJ-Suez), the first to surge on the second ascent of the Côte du Chemin de Troheir. Her teammate Demi Vollering, one of the overall favourites, countered with a strong acceleration 5km from the finish, ultimately placing seventh, just behind the defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon/SRAM).
The Tour continues on Monday with stage three, featuring more rolling terrain before the mountain battles later in the week.
