Good afternoon,
Welcome to our live coverage of stage two of the Tour de France Femmes 2023.
The riders face a hilly 140 kilometres between Clermont-Ferrand and Mauriac for the second stage of this year's race.
Lotte Kopecky won stage one and took the races' first yellow jersey. She will be a hot favourite to win again this afternoon.
Reach out via Twitter - @thewlistt - and let me know who you're backing for the win this afternoon.
Here's the GC coming into stage two.
Kopecky's amazing start means she holds a 45 second advantage over her teammate Lorena Wiebes.
1. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx, in 03-03-59
2. Lorena Wiebes (Ned) SD Worx, at 45s
3. Charlotte Kool (Ned) DSM-Firmenich, at 47s
4. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, at 52s
5. Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (Rza) AG Insurance - Soudal Quick-Step, at 53s
6. Demi Vollering (Ned) SD Worx,
7. Tamara Dronova Israel- Premier Tech Roland,
8. Cecille Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ-Suez,
9. Mavi Garcia (Esp) Liv Racing,
10. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek, all at same time
The riders face six categorised climbs out on the course today including an uphill punch to the line.
The riders are already nearly halfway through today's stage.
With 84 kilometres left to race we've got a two rider breakaway up the road.
Georgia Williams (EF Education - Tibco - SVB) and Hannah Ludwig (Uno-X) currently have 1-30 over the peloton.
Lidl-Trek and DSM are leading the peloton down the long descent of the Cote de la Stele in search of the two leaders.
With the points picked up on the first couple of climbs today, Georgia Williams will replace Kopecky at the top of the Queen of the Mountains standings.
Kopecky held the overall lead in the overall classification, Queen of the Mountain's classification and points classification after winning stage one yesterday.
1'30" for our lead duo with less than 85 KM left 1'30" pour notre duo de tête avec moins de 85 KM à parcourir 🇳🇿Georgia Williams🇩🇪Hannah Ludwig #TDFF2023 #WatchTheFemmes @Gozwift pic.twitter.com/42wRplTGbpJuly 24, 2023
Here's the two leaders in action out on the road.
As it stands they have 1-17 over the main field.
Small crash at the back of the peloton!
Arianna Fidanza (Ceratizit WNT) and Wilma Olausson (Uno-X) both went down. Fortunately they both seem to be ok.
61km to go:
Hard work on the front of the bunch from DSM has really whittled down the leaders advantage.
The lead duo have just 28 seconds now.
The commentators are just discussing today's favourites.
Can't really argue with their assessment that today's stage suits Kopecky to a tee. There's four more climbs between the riders and the finish in Mauriac.
Next up is the category two Cote des Plaines which could see the two leaders reeled back in by the bunch.
56km to go:
That's that for the break! The peloton have nearly caught them on the long, flat road between the Cote de la Stele and the next climb.
55km to go:
Williams is starting to look over her shoulder. She realises that's that.
WIlliams and Ludwig shake hands as they're swallowed up by the bunch.
CRASH!
Three riders are down. One looks like EF's Alison Jackson.
Yep! Jackson went down! That's a heavy fall for the Canadian national champion.
Spela Kern (Cofidis) and Dilyxine Miermont (St Michel-Mavic-Auber93) were the other two riders involved.
It's pretty wet and slick out on the roads which saw Jackson and the other two riders caught out there.
50km to go:
Two riders attack the minute the Cote des Plaines starts.
Agnieska Skalniak-Sojka (Canyon // SRAM) hits out along with Evita Muzic (FDJ Suez).
49km to go: There's some big gaps starting to form as the road goes uphill.
Julie Van de Velde attacks for Fenix-Deceuninck. The Belgian launches herself up the road with a big acceleration.
BIG CRASH!
Several riders - including Annemiek Van Vleuten (Movistar) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) - went down there.
Van Vleuten has several of her teammates around her but that was a nasty looking fall.
46km to go: Van der Velde is still pressing on here.
Van Vleuten gets herself straight back into the main field.
Van der Velde takes five points in the Queen of the Mountains competition at the summit there.
41km to go: A series of attacks went as the peloton crested that climb there.
Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) was the next rider to try her luck. She's got a gap of 18 seconds at the moment on the chasing pack.
39km to go:
The riders are approaching the finish line for the first time before they continue into the circuit that'll bring them back around.
Eva Van Agt (Jumbo-Visma) and Anouska Koster (Uno-X) have joined Kastelijn up the road.
37km to go:
Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek) leads the peloton in hot pursuit of the lead trio.
Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance - Soudal Quick-Step) is there as well.
Van Agt leads the trio of leaders as they push on with a stage win in mind.
26km to go: The trio of leaders have 1-03 over the peloton at the moment. They'll be starting to feel really confident as they head through the bonus sprint point at Drugeac.
Koster took the bonus seconds available at the top of the climb.
24km to go:
Juliette Labous (DSM) has launched a huge attack out of the bunch.
Marlen Reusser (SD Worx) has set off in pursuit of the Frenchwoman. Vollering is also there closing down the move.
24km to go:
That move from Labous has really cut the lead to the trio of leaders.
There's just 26 seconds between the peloton and break now.
22km to go:
Van Vleuten is really visible at the front of the main field. She seems ok after her fall earlier.
39 seconds to the leaders.
Quinty Ton (Liv Racing) was briefly up the road looking to bridge across to the leaders, although she's now back in the bunch.
16km to go:
Terrible conditions out on the road for the riders. The rain is lashing down now.
16km to go: The breakaway are all working methodically together here, although once the final climb arrives their advantage should plummet once the expected moves from the bunch come.
10km to go:
Van Agt, Koster and Kasterlijn have 47 seconds on the bunch. There is so much water on the road..... terrible racing conditions for the riders.
Kasterlijn unclipped as the leaders came through a tight turn in the road..... moments later that caused a crash in the bunch and Loretta Hanson (Lidl-Trek) has gone down.
The crashes just keep coming this afternoon.
Eva van Agt (Jumbo-Visma) has just come unstuck on the descent towards the final climb. Let's hope she's ok.
Looks like she went over the barrier at the side of the road into the undergrowth.
4km to go:
Big attack from Kasia Niewiadoma now out of the main field.
Lianne Lippert and Elisa Longo Borghini are with her, as is Van Vleuten.
Elise Chabbey and Uttrup Ludwig are presenr too.
3km to go: Niewiadoma goes again with Kopecky on her wheel!
3km to go: This is going to take something special to stop Kopecky from winning another stage today.
Labous is the next rider to make a move! Although the rest of the GC favourites are able to respond.
2km to go:
Vollering is there at the front of this group.
Is she going to launch something?!
1.6 km to go:
Marlen Reusser launches a huge attack from the back of the bunch. Longho Borghini is on her wheel for Lidl-Trek and looks like Niewiadoma has followed.
This is getting chaotic.
They're under the flamme rouge.
This is a perfect finish for Kopecky..... but when will she launch her sprint?!
Vollering leads her out! Right on que!
Here we go! Here comes Kopecky!
Wow! Lianne Lippert catches Kopecky on the line and takes the win!
That's a huge win for Lippert and Movistar.
Annemiek van Vleuten comes over and congratulates her teammate.
Lippery had a long way to go to get around Kopecky but she had just enough power to do it.
Excellent.
🇩🇪 @LianeLippert wins stage 2️⃣ in Mauriac!🇩🇪 @LianeLippert remporte l’étape 2️⃣ à Mauriac !#TDFF2023 #WatchTheFemmes @GoZwift @Movistar_Team pic.twitter.com/yaagGgOEqwJuly 24, 2023
Here's Lippert grabbing her victory.
Right.... we'll have a stage report on the site shortly.
Thank you for joining us today.
