Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal Quickstep) sprinted to win the opening stage of the CIC-Tour Féminin Pyrénées, holding off Anna Henderson (Jumbo-Visma) and Loes Adegeest (FDJ SUEZ) to take the race lead.
Connie Hayes (Awol O'Shea) made the first attack in the opening kilometres of the 129.2km stage from Argelès Gazost to Lourdes but was reeled in before another move went clear.
Yurani Blanco (Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi) and Martina Sanfilippo (Team Mendelspeck) countered but lost Sanfilippo on a climb with 90km to go.
The peloton was back together before the race was neutralized with 82km remaining to allow the race doctor to rejoin the convoy.
Amber Kraak (Jumbo-Visma) took the intermediate sprint with 60km to go before the next breakaway went clear with Leonie Laubig (Groupa Abadie) going solo. A crash behind disrupted the chase and split the peloton.
Sanfilippo was on the move in a counterattack as part of a chasing group of four with teammates Monica Castagna and Beatric Pozzobon and BePink's Giorgia Vettorello.
Three more riders scrambled across to the quartet with 40km to go: Andrea Ramirez (Bizkaia-Durango), Victoire Joncheray (Grand-Est Komugi La Fabrique) and Maaike Colje (Arkéa) joined the first chasing group but Laubig was still solo when the chasing group shattered on an uncategorized climb with 36km to go.
The peloton caught all of the chasers as Laubig enjoyed a one-minute lead but her time alone soon came to an end under pressure from FDJ-SUEZ and Canyon-SRAM.
More attacks came to try to distance Moolman-Pasio but she took the race on in the climbs with 26km to go, accelerating and further reducing the leading group.
Jade Wiel (FDJ SUEZ) put in a dig and was solo with a 22-second lead going into the final 10km but was finally brought back in the last 3km.
Uttrup-Ludwig attacked but didn't get far because a random driver got onto the course. Parked cars, narrow roads, and meandering spectators peppered the last kilometre before the sprint opened up behind Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit) opened up the sprint but only served to lead out Moolman-Pasio for the stage win.
Results powered by FirstCycling
