It was a home victory on stage 1 of the Dutch Grand Départ at the 2024 Tour de France Femmes as Charlotte Kool (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) sprinted into the maillot jaune in The Hague and marked the second time a Dutch sprinter took the yellow jersey on the first stage. It was last done in 2022 after Kool’s then-teammate Lorena Wiebes (now SD Worx-Protime) did it on the Champs-Élysées opener.
Behind Kool, the GC was very tight as bonus seconds for the top three finishers determined the separation of most of the peloton. Stage runner-up Anniina Ahtosalo (Uno-X Mobility) was four seconds behind Kool, and Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) was six seconds down. After that, everybody was on 10 seconds, all the way down to Nafosat Kozieva (Tashkent City Women) who finished 116th out of 148 riders, 17 seconds back.
The top 10, from fourth on, included Lotta Henttala (EF-Oatly-Cannondale), Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), Daria Pikulik (Human Powered Health), Mylene de Zoete (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling), Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal), Emilia Fahlin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime).
Of the GC contenders, only Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) and Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) did not finish in the same time as Kool, coming in 20 seconds later and now ranked as 119th and 121st, respectively, at 30 seconds.
Tuesday morning, the short and flat stage 2 from Dordrecht to Rotterdam offers the sprinters a second opportunity for a stage win, but other than that, time gaps are expected to be small to non-existent.
Instead, the Tuesday afternoon time trial on stage 3 through the streets of Rotterdam is the first chance for the GC riders to take time on their rivals and could see an ITT specialist move into the yellow jersey.
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Tour de France Femmes standings
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The Tour de France Femmes classifications
Here is on overview of the ongoing competitions and special jerseys at the Tour de France Femmes.
Yellow Jersey/Maillot Jaune – The yellow jersey is worn by the overall race leader on the general classification, the rider who has completed the stages so far with the lowest accumulated time.
Green Jersey – The green jersey designates the points classification leader. Riders accumulate points at intermediate sprints during stages and also at stage finishes, and the woman with the most points leads the ranking.
Polka Dot Jersey – The red and white polka dot jersey is for the mountain classification leader. Points are handed out to the first riders over certain hills and climbs during the Tour de France Femmes, with the hardest mountains giving the most points. Once again, the rider with the most points leads the ranking.
White jersey – The white jersey is for the best young rider classification leader. It works the same way as the yellow jersey, but only riders under 23 years of age are eligible to win.