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Kimberley Lecourt-Pienaar made a successful debut in the Tour de France yesterday, with the Mauritian finishing eighth after a sprint at the end of the first stage, alongside Dutchman Charlotte Cool (2:47:40).
The third edition of the Tour de France in partnership with Zwift started with a flat stage between Rotterdam and The Hague covering 123 km. For the first time in its short history, the women’s peloton was held from abroad. This first stage promised to award the first yellow jersey of the week through a royal mass sprint. While we were looking forward to a peak duel with Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx Team – Protime Team), Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich PostNL Team) took advantage of her arch-rival’s mechanical problems in the last kilometer to take victory on home soil by a few points ahead of the Finnish Anniina Ahtosalo (Uno-X Mobility) and the Italian Elisa Balsamo (LidlTrek). Kimberley Lecourt-Pienaar immediately finished in eighth place, a very good result.
“It was a very important day. I felt like I was racing in a criterium. My main goal was to stay on the bike and avoid falls and other worries. I’m happy to have a result in the end.”and later confided it to our compatriots.
Fortunately, the 2024 double champion of Mauritius did not suffer a big fall in the center of the peloton 70 kilometers from the finish. Those who were not seriously affected were not seriously affected.
Otherwise, the first stage was logically controlled by the sprinters. They prevented rare and timid offensives. To recall, Charlotte Kuhl was in the yellow jersey and, thanks to the bonus, she was four seconds ahead of Ahtosalo and six seconds ahead of Balsamo. Kimberley Lecourt-Pienaar was therefore eighth with 10 seconds to spare.
Today the program has two (and a half) stages. In the morning, there will be a 69.7 km race between Dordrecht and Rotterdam, and in the afternoon there will be a 6.3 km individual time trial on the streets of Rotterdam.
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