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Yet another break tries to go clear as Gladys Verhulst (Le Col-Wahoo) scrapes up a lead of roughly 20 seconds.
19 kilometres to go
Markus claims the points for the Mountains ranking.
Marta Lach (Ceratizit-WNT), Femke Markus (Parkhotel Valkenburg) and Anne Dorth Ysland (Uno-X ProCycling) move away just before the Mountains classification.
A flurry of more attacks as we approach the Mountains classification ‘summit’, situated in the ninth lap.
Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) takes the second and last intermediate sprint.
27 kilometres to go
The two are reeled in .
Henrietta Christie (Human Powered Health) moves across to Allin at the front. But the peloton are barely 16 seconds behind the leading duo and the second intermediate sprint is fast approaching.
And here’s another emblematic picture from today’s stage.
32 kilometres to go
The second intermediate sprint is approaching fast and Allin’s gap is dropping equally quickly.
36 kilometres to go
And after a flurry of unsuccessful counter-attacks, Allin’s gap has dropped to a scant 12 seconds.
38 kilometres to go
And the gap between Pauline Allin (Arkea-Samsic) and the bunch hovers at around the 22 second mark.
43 kilometres to go
Another solo break goes clear for Arkea-Samsic as Pauline Allin of France gains 20 seconds on the bunch.
47 kilometres to go
Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) takes the sprint ahead of Lorena Wiebes (DSM)
And the gap has evaporated completely. Bunch all together and Jumbo-Visma are leading the string.
49 kilometres to go
Jumbo-Visma and SD Worx have moved to the front of the bunch and have squeezed down the gap held by Emily Newsom (EF-Education-Tibco-SVB) and Micha Bredewold (Parkhotel Valkenburg) to a scant 12 seconds.
It’s getting hotter out there, reaching 31 degrees, according to the official website.
52 kilometres to go
Emily Newsom (EF-Education-Tibco-SVB) and Micha Bredewold (Parkhotel Valkenburg) have a 40 second advantage on the peloton
One of the first photos of the opening stage
58 kilometres to go
And the gap has now opened to 20 seconds.
Another move finally opens up a small gap, with Emily Newsom (EF-Education-Tibco-SVB) and Micha Bredewold (Parkhotel Valkenburg) with a lead of 10 seconds.
60 kilometres to go
Yet more moves are ebbing and flowing but nothing is managing to stick yet
62 kilometres to go
65 kilometres to go
Almost as soon as the 7 rider move ends, there’s another breakaway, this time a solo move by Laura Asencio (Ceratizit-WNT ProCycling)
The seven rider move, including Anais Morichon (Arkea-Samsic), has been extinguished by DSM who have Lorena Wiebes as one of the favourites for a potential bunch sprint.
69 kilometres to go
And we have the first break of the day: a seven rider move is off the front.
And there’s also a mountains classification on offer on the ninth lap.
Worth noting that during this stage there are two intermediate sprints on the fifth and eighth laps of the Champs-Élysées.
75 kilometres to go
Five kilometres into the race and no major movements yet.
And so it begins. The riders begin the 81.7 kilometre stage 1 of the Tour de France Femmes.
Let’s not forget, either, that Vos was the first winner of La Course back in 2014, held over a very similar course in central Paris.
My colleague Kirsten Frattini has written this great interview with Marianne Vos about the Tour de France Femmes. Highly recommended.
The riders begin the neutralised section of stage 1 of the Tour de France Femmes and after months of build-up, the race is, at long last, underway.
After multiple expressions of delight and emotion at their opportunity to be taking part in the first edition of such a key event for cycling, the riders are moving towards the neutralised start. Two minutes to go.
Weather is dry and warm, temperatures out there according the official race website are 28.8 Celsius. There’s a bit of a breeze, but not too strong, just 11kmh.
The first stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is 81.6km long, running on the famous circuit on the Champs-Élysées. The neutralised start is at 13:30 and then there is a 5.3 kilometre neutralised section, prior to racing getting underway at 13:40.
To read our analysis of today’s opening stage on Cyclingnews, look no further than
Bonjour and welcome to the Cyclingnews live coverage of stage 1 of the 2022 Tour de France Femmes.
