Sunday 27 July 2014 17:32, UK
World and Olympic champion Marianne Vos won the inaugural edition of La Course by Le Tour de France in Paris as Britain’s Lizzie Armitstead saw her hopes of victory ended by a late crash.
The 89km race took place over 13 laps of the same city-centre circuit used for the final stage of the men’s Tour de France and came down to a bunch sprint finish on the Champs-Elysees.
Armitstead fell in a collision with France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot with just over 1km to go, but Vos avoided the incident and went on to beat Kirsten Wild into second and Leah Kirchman into third.
“It was really fantastic to race here," Vos said. "That was a dream come true. With huge crowds and an incredible race, it makes it even better to finish it off.
“The team did fantastic. They placed me in perfect position and to cross the line first in the very first La Course by Le Tour de France is amazing.”
Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans) made a solo bid for glory with an attack just over 7km from the finish, but together with a trio of riders who followed her, she was caught 1km later.
Ferrand-Prevot (Rabobank-Liv) also attacked, with 5.4km remaining, and although she held out longer than Armitstead, she too was was swallowed up by the chasing pack, with 2.4km to go.
Vos's Rabobank-Liv team subsequently hit the front of the peloton and despite a strong challenge from Wild, the Dutch rider was strong enough to claim her 17th win of the season.
Hannah Barnes was Britain's highest finisher, in 21st. Armitstead managed to remount her bike and crossed the line in 94th.
She said afterwards: "I had a bit of bad luck in the race. I dropped my chain two times so I had to change the bike two times. And then in the final I was a little bit out of position, but I was pretty OK because I was on Vos's wheel, so I wasn't too panicked. But her team-mate just put me in the barrier, Annemiek van Vleuten. She turned right on me and took her team-mate down as well [Ferrand Prevot]."
Result
1 Marianne Vos (Ned) Rabobank-Liv, 2:00:41
2 Kirsten Wild (Ned) Liv-Shimano, same time
3 Leah Kirchman (Can) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Stragtegies, st
4 Lisa Brennauer (Ger) Specialized-lululemon, st
5 Shelley Olds (USA) Ale Cipollini, st
6 Coryn Rivera (USA) UnitedHealthcare, st
7 Jolien d’Hoore (Bel) Lotto Belisol, st
8 Emma Johansson (Swe) Orica-AIS, st
9 Simona Frapporti (Ita) Astana BePink, st
10 Roxanne Fournier (Fra) Poitou-Charentes.Futuroscope.86, st
