Team dsm-firmenich received no reward for their effort in chasing back the day's solo breakaway, Julie van de Velde (Fenix-Deceuninck), as Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) sprinted to the win. Charlotte Kool was left frustrated with seventh place on stage 3 at the Tour de France Femmes.
"I'm really, really disappointed," Kool said after crossing the finish line in Montignac-Lascaux, one she had earmarked for the sprinters ahead of the eight-day race.
"We came early, but that was the plan, and I think I went through the corner and let myself surprise from the back, and there was no room, and I got blocked up, so it's just a missed opportunity."
The 147.2km stage started in Collonges-la-Rouge with the sprinters' teams gearing for a bunch sprint. But Van de Velde's remarkable 60km solo performance, gaining a maximum of 2:30 minutes, added an element of uncertainty to their plans.
SD Worx, with yellow jersey Lotte Kopecky and sprint favourite Lorena Wiebes, appeared unconcerned or unwilling to chase. In the end, Team dsm-firmenich took it upon themselves to close the gap, moving their riders forward within the last 10km and bringing the gap down to 25 seconds.
Kool expressed frustration that SD Worx refused to help in the chase, only sending Marlen Reusser briefly to the front inside the final kilometres.
"We are used to it. Actually, they never do, and we want to go for a win. My team trusts me to finish it off in a sprint; maybe they don't have the trust. I don't know. But we take our own opportunity, and we are not going to look because others are not riding," Kool said.
"I mean, it's the Tour, and not many sprint stages, so we take it. But, of course, it's a bit sad that others are always the ones riding."
Team dsm-firmenich director Kelvin Dekker suggested that his riders panicked in the last kilometre because Van de Velde still held a small gap. He said they should have switched their attention to the focus solely on the lead out once the gap had dropped to 25 seconds.
"Timing-wise, I knew it was going to be tight, and in the end, the riders worried a bit, which is where we lost today," Dekker said.
Dekker explained that the team needed to revise its lead-out strategy after their main rider Megan Jastrab crashed in the opening stage, and they were unsure how much she could support Kool. While Jastrab did help in the lead out, the team added Lea Curinier and Juliet Labous in the final.
"At one kilometre to go, we panicked. Juliet made an effort to bring back Van de Velde while we shouldn't have been busy with Van de Velde anymore. We should have just done our sprint," Dekker said.
"Because of that, Pfeiffer Georgi was too early in the wind, and maybe there we should have tried to wait a bit longer or maybe come later because Charlotte was on her own."
Dekker also said that he thought Kool made one critical mistake in the sprint when she lost her position and was not directly on Wiebes' wheel.
"She made a few good moves but made one wrong decision, lost the wheels, and was fourth or fifth at the moment when you need to be on Wiebes' wheel. She had no space to sprint, which is frustrating," Dekker said.
Dekker had spoken with Kool directly after the stage and said she was upset about the way the sprint had played out but reminded that she had two more opportunities at the Tour de France Femmes.
"Yes, she is very disappointed. She is a winner. She came here to win. Today was a good shot, but we made some small mistakes. In Tour, you don't make small mistakes; if you do, you don't get rewarded with the win," Dekker said.
"When you get beaten by horsepower, sprinting next to each other, and you lose, it's easier to accept than this, so she is very disappointed."
Dekker pointed to stage 5 into Albi and stage 6 into Blagnac as the next opportunities for the sprinters.
Asked what the team would do differently, Dekker said, "We will win. We will take our responsibility; we want to win, we want to sprint, and we want to win with Charlotte in a sprint."
