"If Pauline could have won, that would have been great" - Vos wins at Tour de France Femmes but laments Ferrand-Prévot

Marianne Vos has won again at the Tour de France Femmes after three years - the race's first edition. The leader of Team Visma | Lease a Bike was the strongest atop the Côte de Cadoudal this Saturday afternoon and has been crowned the first yellow jersey of the race after a dominant ride by the Dutch team.

"The stage was short, so we knew it would be nerve-wracking. The peloton was often in a ribbon, but you could feel the tension. As a team, we wanted to lead out the final descent to get Pauline and me into position. They did a fantastic job there," Vos said in a post-race interview. Visma had good chances of winning the first stage of the race, but they likely wouldn't be expecting the fall-out of SD Worx who saw Lotte Kopecky not play a role in the final and Lorena Wiebes struggle with the uphill gradients.

But part of that was due to Visma's aggressive tactics, to drop the explosive riders from the front group. "Pauline [Ferrand-Prévot] opened up a gap 500 meters from the finish, which was a good gap. At that moment, I looked around to see who was coming after her. Then I saw Kim Le Court coming. She rode a really good sprint, but I joined her. I didn't know if Pauline could accelerate any further, but she stalled. That's why it became a sprint with Kim."

Vos looked like she wanted to gift the Frenchwoman the victory but this was ultimately not possible as Le Court was approaching with a lot of speed. Ultimately Vos won, but didn't enjoy overtaking her teammate in the final meters of the stage. "That's a bit of a mixed bag, but I'm happy for the team and that we made it. If Pauline could have won, that would have been great, because we're here as a team. This victory is very special. It's the Tour de France, it's the first day… I can't describe what it means."

Of course with this being the first stage of the race, the veteran is also rewarded with a yellow jersey on her back for an explosive stage 2 into Quimper tomorrow: "It's a bonus to also wear the yellow jersey; I didn't dare think about that beforehand. I'm grateful for the team and also for Pauline's work here on the final climb".