The finisher left no chance for the competition, neither the Italian world champion Elisa Balsamo (2nd), nor the yellow jersey Marianne Vos (3rd), unable to follow her in the final package.

"I felt strong in the sprint and I'm delighted to win after this long stage," reacted the Dutchwoman from the DSM team.

"It was the longest race I've ever done. And counting the fictitious start, it must have been close to 180 kilometers, she calculated. I've never even done such an outing in training ."

The fact remains that after winning the shortest stage on the Champs-Elysées in Paris (81.6 kilometers), Wiebes will have won the most stretched with 175.6 kilometers to swallow between Bar-le-Duc and Saint-Dié on Thursday , more than during the last Worlds (158 km).

She demonstrates, on the biggest stage, that she is almost unbeatable in the event of a sprint: only Elisa Balsamo has succeeded this year, only twice.

Wiebes panics the counters with this 17th success this season, the 53rd of his short career (23 years).

"When Lorena started her sprint, we couldn't see her again, it was raw power, blew Marianne Vos. With Balsamo behind, we were only beaten for second and third place."

#photo1

Green jersey objective

"The goal is to take the green jersey," said Wiebes, who is trailing Marianne Vos in the points standings.

"And to play the general classification with Juliette (Labous) who is in very good shape", she added.

If Vos, who signed a fifth top 5 in as many stages (2nd, 1st, 2nd, 5th, 3rd) was there, several sprinters could not defend their luck due to a massive fall at 45 kilometers from the finish.

The Belgian Lotte Kopecky, delayed then slowed down by mechanical problems, rejoined the peloton too late and after too much effort.

As for the Dane Emma Norsgaard, caught in the pile of wheels, frames and runners transformed into puppets, she gave up, hit in the left shoulder, vertebrae and head, according to her team.

Before these new images of the fall of around thirty riders in the peloton, the day was animated by a breakaway of four adventurers controlled by DSM and Trek-Segafredo which left them with a mattress of less than four minutes at most. .

The last two survivors, the French Victoire Berteau and the Cypriot Antri Christoforou, were swallowed up less than three kilometers from the line after a hundred spent at the front.

#photo2

If they have any energy left, they can try their luck again on Friday, probably the last chance for those who are not aiming for the general classification.

The peloton leaves Saint-Dié-des-Vosges to reach Rosheim after 129 kilometers of a course for punchers, the last window before the Vosges weekend.

© 2022 AFP