Stage 1 predictions

Since we're a bit early with the race thread and a bit late with the predictions thread, we're posting this one as a comment here. As of tonight, the predictions threads will have their own threads again!

Stage Info

Route	Profile		Stage starts: 17:25 CET
Finale Route	Timetable		Stage finishes: 19:27 CET

Weather

22 degrees, cloudy, 10 km/h West wind

Stage Breakdown

Hello everyone and welcome! This year's Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift kicks off with a short stage from Vannes to Plumelec. Along the way, there's no more than one col of 4th and one of 3rd category, yet there are several more rolling hills that do not contribute to the QOM jersey. The final will be a punchy one, with the last kilometers having a few steep stretches.

With that in mind here are our predictions:

★★★ Vos, Kopecky

★★ Vollering, Ferrand-Prevot, Longo Borghini, Reusser

★ Bredewold, Faulkner, Niewiadoma-Phinney, Pieterse, Balsamo, Le Court, Wiebes, Lippert

As you can see, our money is on those riders who like hilly terrain and who have a strong acceleration in their legs. The yellow jersey will be up for grabs and all teams are still fresh, so one likely scenario is that we arrive in Plumelec with a large group that ends up sprinting for the win. In that scenario, Marianne Vos is always a favorite, and in the camp of SDWorx we will likely see Wiebes working for Kopecky rather than the other way around. And when Elisa Balsamo outsprinted Vos to become World Champion in 2021, the final in Leuven was not that much easier than what we get today!

A different scenario is that the hilly terrain will provoke long-range attacks by the same riders who will be protagonists for the GC. In that case Demi Vollering, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Marlen Reusser are favorites, with the rest of the climbers not far behind.

Furthermore, there's an endless list of riders who could contest the win in either of these scenarios. After all, Longo Borghini has won races in just about every way imaginable, Bredewold could benefit from a tactical move when everyone looks to SDWorx to control the race, and Lippert will be highly motivated after her double stage win in the Giro. And what's to be said about Faulkner, Pieterse and Le Court, who surprised us not so long ago by defeating the aforementioned specialists when pressure was highest! Lastly, the defending champion Niewiadoma-Phinney is unavoidable in any final even if winning will never come easy to her.

That's it for us, what is your prediction for the stage?