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To update
Now we are in the rapid technical descent and we return to Nice. The rain has stopped but conditions are cloudy.
Wiles is setting the pace for Trek right now and doing real damage with a great speed spin. How much does she have left when we see the World Cup leader close to the front as well? All the top favorites are still here, but I can’t see Hosking right now.
80km to go
And here comes van Vleuten. She just effortlessly moves forward.
Trek has the numbers and they are accelerating a lot here. They want to make this race as tough as possible and the peloton lines up for the first time. Some raindrops have started to fall.
Deignan is second wheel at the moment and only marks wheels … and is now climbing with a teammate before the descent.
The pace is so high that no one can really attack, but we already have less than 50 runners, having started with just over 130.
Omer Shapira is determined to force the pace as she leads the pack. 84 km to go.
Even though we had the KOM point, the road is only flat for a short stretch before the riders start climbing again.
Vos has climbed up and started to contribute to the pace, along with Winder, as a few more riders return after the climb.
Christine Majerus wins KOM points before Christmas. There are 87 km to go to the top of the climb. Everyone looks around to see who is still here, but the group still has around 60-70 people.
Now van Vleuten occupies the second row as he ascends. Many cyclists look at her and wait.
The world champion is sitting in the third row right now and waiting. Are teams setting this pace to nullify their potential early attack?
89km to go
We can see Winder, the US champion, close to the front with 89km to go.
It’s all about positioning right now as we see Trek and Boels moving forward, but there are already some major divisions in the peloton. The pace is dizzying.
Some cyclists have already withdrawn from the group on the lower slopes of the climb.
We are fast approaching the Cote de Rimiez, where the race will surely explode into action. After that quick start, the pace has calmed down a bit.
Our women’s editor, Kirsten Frattini, has put together a list of riders to watch out for during the race, which you can find right here.
We have covered the first two kilometers at breakneck speed and the drivers are already trying to cut through the front end, but nothing is clear yet.
And we are underway and the pace is really very high.
Here’s Deignan:
“The Course for the Tour de France with FDJ is a kind of home race, it is at the end of the road and I have run a lot on those roads. Obviously it’s going to be a great celebration of cycling, with the Tour de France on the way, it’s very exciting to be a part of that, ”he said.
“I think it’s actually a good circuit, a good racing circuit. This year was an easy year for ASO to back down from having a women’s career and I am pleased that there is still a women’s career.
“I think it’s a good racing circuit and it’s going to be quite aggressive.”
Let’s take a quick look at some of the cyclists. Here you are.
“Last year was a fantastic victory for me personally. After the first time on the Champs Elysees, it was a different tour but the same sensations and feelings crossed the line. “
“The tour doesn’t seem to be made for a specific type of rider. It is not for sprinters, it is not for climbers, it gives possibilities for a getaway, it gives possibilities even for a sprinter if he survives, but also the strongest climbers or classic cyclists can make a difference, “he said.
“I think a lot of teams will go there with the goal of winning. I don’t really know the course, I have seen it on the Internet, which is the only possibility we have at the moment. I’ll see the course when I’m there. But the team will do the preparation and you can do a pretty good recon without being there. “
It’s only a few minutes until the start now, and all the runners have reached the start of La Course 2020.
It’s great that women’s cycling has this event, and not to put things off, because I’m sure the race will be great, but this is what Annemiek van Vleuten had to say about it before.
“I just checked this year’s tour of La Course for the Tour de France … I can’t believe what I saw: a 96km ‘race’ – only 2 laps with a third climbing cat … Not really the WorldTour level “.
However, there has been more talk of a longer event taking place in 2021.
Two of the best commentators in the business, right here (below) on Hannah Walker and Anthony McCrossan.
I could barely sleep last night with the idea of @LeTour and @LaCoursebyTDF starting today in Nice! 🤩 Looking forward to commenting on the 7th edition of La Course with @antmccrossan, join us live from 10 am CEST 🇫🇷 #LaCourse pic.twitter.com/uIeZVfUG5AAugust 29, 2020
The riders are already warming up at the start, because that first climb comes very early in the race. This will be such an explosive start.
#LaCourse #Nice #UCIWWT #prerace # Alé Girls! @ALE_cycling pic.twitter.com/Ej3YIucAzuAugust 29, 2020
By the way, we are almost done with the registration, and the race will start in about 20 minutes from now.
We can’t stop talking about Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig from FDJ. She obtained her first victory in the colors of the FDJ at the Giro dell’Emilia a few weeks ago. She can climb, she can win from a break, and she has a great racing head on her shoulders. Another rider to watch out for today.
Another of the best sprinters on the field is Marta Bastianelli. Of course, she is a former world champion and is rarely outside the top ten when it comes to sprinting this season. She only did La Course once, and that was in 2016, when she made the top 20. You can’t rule her out, though.
Elizabeth Deignan is here too, and she’s flying after her victory at Plouay less than a week ago. She lives around here I think, or maybe it’s Monaco, but she will know the roads very well, as she has trained in this climb many times. The harder the race, the better it goes and with Elisa Longo Borghini, who also flies after taking second place in the Euro, Trek has options to play with.
Chloe Hosking won this race in 2016, when she was back in Paris, and she has a good team around her with Rally. If the race comes back together and we race along the Nice seafront, then she has to be a top favorite. She hasn’t raced since spring, but she’s one of the fastest finishers in the world and sprinting is perfect for her. The climbers will have to ditch the Australian, who has not scored a victory since landing a stage at the Tour Down Under in January.
Liane Lippert enters the race as the leader of the WWC and Sunweb has a strong team around her. She won the Cadel Race in January, that feels like a long time ago now, and she’s come back to defend her lead with some decent positions here and there. She is a good climber so she should be able to hold her own on the climb today.
30 minutes from the start of the race. Let’s take a look at more of the favorites ahead of the race.
In fact, you may be looking to stream the event later this morning, and we’ve put together this little how-to guide on how to do it. It’s just here.
We’ll see the rest of the favorites shortly, and it’s a stacked course, but here’s a look at the profile of the race. It is 96 km long and basically consists of two loops around the hills of Nice. Cyclists climb the Cote de Rimiez twice, which is 5.8 km long and has an average slope of 5.1%. The first ascent occurs within the first 10km and we can expect a wave of attacks as the climbers seek to eliminate as many sprinters as possible early on. The climb picks up within the last 25km and could once again shake up the race.
However, she is not the only star here. Vos, who won the first La Course in 2014 and again last year, is also on the starting line. She hasn’t won this season yet, but we’re talking about You … And she’s reportedly going to Jumbo-Visma next year as they step up their plans to have a women’s team.
Right now, the runners are signing up with the official start at around 10am CET. World champion and two-time winner Annemiek van Vleuten is here in her rainbow jersey and she has to be a big favorite for today. Previously, and with good reason, she criticized the length of the race, but who would let it pass to launch an attack on the first climb today and alone to victory. It has the form, and it’s a similar tactic to how she won the world road title last year in Yorkshire. A little statistic about van Vleuten: he has run eight days this year and won six of them. Simply incredible.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of La Course de Le Tour de France. This event was supposed to take place at the beginning of the year, but with the global pandemic, the race, along with the men’s Tour de France, has changed. Unfortunately, while the men have 21 days of racing, the elite women have only 1 and it is only 96 km in length. However, we will be here for the entire race with live text coverage and updates. We will have a race report, news and featured videos a bit later.
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