Watch: Tour de France Femmes stage 3 highlights

In a day for the sprinters, fortune often does not favour the brave. On stage 3 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, however, it seemed that the brave might be rewarded for once. Although it was not meant to be, the gamble from an unexpected player brought plenty of excitement to the Tour as the anticipation builds towards the pivotal weekend.

Attacks flew from the peloton all day as the terrain was rolling once again, another example of the unpredictable and undulating parcours that have characterised this race. While the attacks rolled, they failed to stick for long, until Julie Van De Velde (Fenix-Deceuninck) attacked with 59km to go and established a gap.

Van De Velde rode on solo, taking Queen of the Mountains points on the final climbs of the day, earning a polka dot jersey at the end of the stage as a result. While the peloton chased behind, Van De Velde still had 35 seconds with only 5km remaining.

It was touch-and-go into the final kilometre, but a lead-out by Lotte Kopecky doomed the lone escapee and launched Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) to the win. Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) came across the line second, pushing Wiebes all the way to the line, while Lotte Kopecky finished third, extending her overall lead to 55 seconds over Liane Lippert (Movistar).

We’ll be showing live and on-demand coverage of all eight stages of this year’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift from Sunday, July 23 to Sunday, July 30. Head over to GCN+ now to check the start times of each broadcast so that you don’t miss out on a moment of the action! As always, territory restrictions will apply.