Stage 3 of the Tour de France Femmes 2025 was the longest of the race so far, stretching 163.5km from La Gacilly to Angers. What began as a routine flat stage for the sprinters eventually exploded into a tense and chaotic finale, featuring a persistent breakaway, multiple crashes, a big bunch sprint and a change in the yellow jersey.
The day began with a flurry of early attacks as riders looked to get up the road. Amber Kraak was the first to launch a solo move, but her time off the front was short-lived. Franziska Brauße, Justine Ghekiere, Anneke Dijkstra and Marthe Truyen were also active, but the peloton was alert and shut down each move quickly.
Eventually, a quartet managed to escape around 148km to go: Alison Jackson of EF Education-Oatly, Clémence Latimier of Arkea-B&B Hotels, Sara Martín of Movistar and Catalina Soto Campos of Laboral Kutxa. All except Latimier were national champions, and the four quickly built a gap that hovered around four minutes.
The peloton settled into a rhythm with SD Worx-Protime taking responsibility at the front. With none of the breakaway riders a GC threat, the leaders were allowed some space.
The breakaway’s impact and intermediate points
As the race moved toward the only categorised climb of the day, the Côte de la Richardière, the four breakaway riders continued working well together. Jackson took maximum points on the climb ahead of Martín. Despite an effort from a few chasers including Alison Avoine and Brauße, the break maintained a solid advantage heading into the intermediate sprint.
At the Vern-d’Anjou intermediate sprint with 40km to go, Jackson again led across the line, followed by Soto, Latimier and Martín. They didn’t contest the sprint heavily, keeping their pace and working as a unit.
Behind them, the bunch began winding up for the remaining sprint points. Lorena Wiebes launched a powerful surge to take fifth, followed closely by Marianne Vos and Demi Vollering. The points haul was significant for Wiebes and Vos, with the latter clawing back time bonuses in the fight for yellow.
Immediately after the sprint, Vollering launched a speculative attack, stretching out the peloton and causing momentary panic, but the move was short-lived.
Photo Credit: GettyThe catch and the crashes
Inside the final 20km, the peloton continued to bring back time. The breakaway riders began attacking each other in a last-ditch attempt to stay away. Jackson, Martín and Soto each made solo moves while Latimier started to lose contact with 10km remaining. It was Soto who went solo with 7km to go, but her move was short-lived as the peloton swept up the escapees just before the flamme rouge.
As teams began setting up their sprinters, disaster struck with just over 3km to go. A large crash disrupted the finale and took down some key names. Among those affected were Demi Vollering, Elisa Balsamo, Letizia Paternoster, Puck Pieterse and Chloé Dygert. Vollering appeared slow to get up and looked sore, while Linda Zanetti also lost contact after being caught behind the crash.
The incident occurred within the 5km to go safety zone, meaning all riders were credited with the same finish time, but it had a clear impact on the stage outcome, with several sprint trains thrown into disarray.
The sprint in Angers
Despite the chaos, the run-in to the finish was fast and tense. With Marie Le Net leading out Ally Wollaston and Imogen Wolff working for Vos, it was still wide open. Lorena Wiebes had just one rider left, but that was Lotte Kopecky, who provided a perfect lead-out.
Wiebes launched her sprint at the right moment, surging clear to take her first stage win of this year’s race. Vos came close behind to finish second, just ahead of Wollaston. Megan Jastrab and Liane Lippert also made it into the mix, while riders like Shari Bossuyt, Eline Jansen and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney were prominent in the top ten.
2025 Tour de France Femmes stage 3
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Main photo credit: Getty
