Main events
125km to go: There are two in the main group: Thalita De Long (Liv Racing Xstra) and Martina Alzini (Cofidis) are getting a gap of seven seconds to the peloton.
130km to go: A group of nine is said to be tee-hee-heeing in front while others are blowing behind. I’d love to tell you who they are, but Eurosport has an Apple ad right now.
Another rider not on the line this morning (tip by Peter van Balen) is Amanda Spratt from the BikeExchange-Jayco team. The Australian was one of the unfortunates sprawled below the French hurtling in the aforementioned accident, and although she trudgely to the line, 10 minutes back from the lead, the monitoring report of last night in light of concerns right ribs, knee and wrist turned . withdraw in the morning.
Any readers may have burst … maybe I’m picturing Alberto Contador hugging for dear life on the back of a motorbike in north-east France, while trying to type something, anything on a laptop … today’s blog comes to you from my second bedroom in SG19.
Curiously, despite much talk of “every stage from the start line to the finish will be broadcast on Eurosport”, this does not appear to be the case, and the broadcaster appears to be sticking to highlights from the day’s stages. yesterday despite the stage. now in full swing. Strange.
We will overcome. The riders burst out of Reims as one, I am told. We’ll keep tabs on any breakouts via the OMIGOD VERY IMPORTANT SUDDENLY DON’T BREAK OR BADGE the live tracking.
Eurosport is replaying yesterday’s horrific accident… and it really doesn’t get any less grim through multiple rewatches. I won’t go out of my way to link you to that one.
Today’s neutralization has begun. Fingers crossed as much of the peloton stays upright and free from grazing on this day.
Dani Rowe is making a prediction … the former Team GB driver, who has won plenty during her career, is supporting Vos, Kopecky and Longo Borghini as 1-2-3 today.
We are 10 minutes away from the riders rolling out of Reims.
Will Vos be similarly happy at the finish line in Épernay this evening?
Frain later apologized for her part in the incident on Twitter.
She said: “Having worked hard to get back to the peloton in Convoy and with my teammate, the pace we rejoined the pack would match his pace. Unfortunately when I got off the wheel I didn’t know [of] ride on the road from another accident. My team went to the left side of the road but I didn’t have a chance to do the same because I didn’t see him. This meant that I hit the top of the rider on the ground… I tried my best to avoid it but I had nowhere to go.
“Obviously this was never meant to be and I’m sorry for the people involved. I am also sick, and will monitor how I feel. I’m lucky I could get back on my bike.”
Yesterday’s stage was marred by a series of ugly crashes.
Marta Cavalli, of the FDJ-Suez Futuroscope team, and winner of the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and the Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge this year, was involved in a very public incident when she slowed down to avoid three riders. crashed in front of her.
Unfortunately, Nicole Frain, who moved quickly, was unable to avoid the danger and completely overwhelmed the Italian, causing her to go over and land on her back. Frain, the Australian national champion of the Parkhotel Valkenburg team, broke into the floor bikes and torpedoed herself, several bike lengths down the road.
Amazingly, Cavalli came back and continued, but was later withdrawn from the race with concussion. Frain also reset and finished the stage 3min 22sec behind Vos.
Sad news to come this morning – Laura Kenny is more famous for her feats but she was also the winner of the British National Road Race Championship in 2014, the victory coming in a series of three podium finishes.
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British five-time Olympic gold medalist Laura Kenny has revealed she was considering a break from cycling at the start of this year after suffering a miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy at the breaking point.
Kenny said in April that she had suffered a miscarriage at nine weeks in November and had a fallopian tube removed in January due to an ectopic pregnancy – when a fertilized egg implants itself outside the womb. The 30-year-old won the madison at last year’s Tokyo Games, where her husband, Jason, became Britain’s most decorated Olympian, with seven golds in cycling.
“I felt like nothing was going our way at all,” Kenny said. “January was a tipping point, I was at breaking point. Without Jason, I think I would have canned everything and just gone, ‘you know what, I can’t even deal with doing any of this [cycling]’. But I grabbed my seatbelt and decided I needed to ride my bike again. That’s what I’ve done for the past 13 years. It feels like a safe place.”
Full story here, and no end of ideas with the Kennys.
Un parcours vallonné au menu de jour qui devrait plaire aux meilleurs puncheuses du peloton! 💥
A hilly race is on the agenda and the best philosophers should be present! 💥#TDFF pic.twitter.com/vt87l1indK
— Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) July 26, 2022
Phase two report Jeremy Whittle
Evergreen Marianne Vos, multiple world champion, capped off her career on a high by taking her first yellow jersey in the Tour de France Femmes after an emphatic win in stage two of the week-long race in Provins.
Vos, beaten to the line on the Champs Élysées in the opening stage by Lorena Wiebes on Sunday, made no mistake in the sprint up the hill into the medieval town. “We were aiming for a stage win and we knew that would be difficult but we wanted to take the opportunity when it came,” she said.
The 35-year-old winner of the first La Course, the forerunner of the revived Tour de France Femmes, was one of the influential people in the campaign to rebirth it.
“When it was nine years ago we were talking to ASO [Amaury Sport Organisation] right to race, he went very fast to promote La Course,” recalled Vos. “When we raced La Course for the first time on the Champs Élysées, it felt like a milestone. To be here now for a real Tour de France, with all the emotions of the stage race, that’s another milestone.”
Read more here
Standing after step two
General classification
1 Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) 5 hours 7 minutes 46 seconds
2 Silvia Persico (Valcar-Travel & Service) +0:10sec
3 Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) +0:12
4 Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) +0:18
5 Maike Van Der Duin (Le Col-Wahoo) +0:28
6 Lorena Wiebes (DSM) +0:35
7 Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) +0:41
8 Rachael Barbieri (Liv Racing Xstra) +0:45
9 Julie De Wilde (Plantur-Pura) +0:45
10 Demi Vollering (SD Worx) +0:45
Points
1 Vote 120 points
2 Wiebes 104
3 Kopecky 85
Climber
1 Femke Markus (Parkhotel Valkenburg) 2 points
2 Femke Gerritse (Parkhotel Valkenburg)1
3 Anne Dorthe Ysland (Uno-X Pro Cycling) 1
4 Marit Raaijmakers (Human Empowered Health) 1
Team
1 Canyon-SRAM 15 hours 25 minutes 9 seconds
2 Jumbo-Visma +0:05sec
3 Trek-Segafredo +0:19
Breast
Greetings. Today marks the third installment of eight in this year’s historic event. It is a 133.6km route from Reims to Éperney, starting about that distance north-east of the French capital. After a few days on the flat, today’s profile: “hilly”, according to the organizers. There are several category four and category three obstacles, Côte de Mutigny, a 0.77km climb at 13.9%. It peaks 16km from the end.
With more hills on the way tomorrow, expect a shake up in the top 10, with the current 45 seconds separating the yellow jersey from 10th place to be a bit more of a gulf. Can Marianne Vos hang in the best place? Let’s find out.
The riders roll out at 11.50am BST, with the stage proper set to start at midday.