Belgian rider Lore De Schepper took the first stage of the Tour de l’Avenir Femmes with a strong performance in the uphill prologue at La Rosière today. The 18-year-old, who usually competes for AG Insurance-Soudal, completed the 2.1-kilometre course, which featured an average gradient of 6.9%, in just 5 minutes and 41 seconds, holding off Canada’s Isabella Holmgren by a mere two seconds.
In third place, 12 seconds behind De Schepper, was Nienke Vinke of the Netherlands. The prologue saw riders tackle a challenging ascent, with De Schepper managing an impressive average speed of 22.2 km/h, a pace that proved too much for the rest of the field. Holmgren, a cyclocross and mountain bike talent on the Lidl-Trek team normally, managed to stay close, but De Schepper’s time was unbeatable.
The top five was rounded out by British rider Millie Couzens and Eleonora Ciabocco of Italy, who finished fourth and fifth respectively. Another Dutch rider, Maud Oudeman, secured sixth place, finishing 18 seconds behind the Belgian winner.
The Tour de l’Avenir Femmes mirrors the men’s race, with the same host cities being used for both events. While the men are already four days into their race, today marked the beginning for the women.
De Schepper’s victory builds on her already promising season, where she claimed victory at the Grand Prix Féminin de Chambéry and took the Belgian cyclocross title in the U23 category. This latest win could signal the rise of a new climbing talent for Belgium, following in the footsteps of Justine Ghekiere.
The race will continue with three more mountain stages, including tomorrow’s tough finish at Les Karallis, a stage on Friday over the Col du Mont-Cenis, and the final stage on Saturday which concludes on the gravel roads of the Colle delle Finestre.
2024 Tour de l’Avenir Femmes Prologue result
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