PARIS (AP) \u2014 Lorena Wiebes of the Netherlands sprinted to victory on Sunday in the first stage of the women\u2019s Tour de France which returned after a 33-year absence.<\/p>\n
The Team DSM rider struck in the last 150 meters of the 82-kilometer (51-mile) circuit in Paris to beat former Olympic champion Marianne Vos to the line on the Champs-Elysees.<\/p>\n
Wiebes punched the air in celebration.<\/p>\n
Tour of Flanders champion Lotte Kopecky was third.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the first time since 1989 that a women\u2019s edition of the Tour de France is being held. Tour de France organizer Amaury Sport Organization (ASO) previously organized La Course, a one-day race held in Paris coinciding with the men\u2019s Tour.<\/p>\n
The first stage started from the Eiffel Tower and ended on the iconic avenue, just hours before the conclusion of the men\u2019s race.<\/p>\n
The \u201cTour de France Femmes\u201d will end July 31 in eastern France at La Super Planche des Belles Filles, a spectacular uphill finish often visited by the men\u2019s Tour.<\/p>\n
The eight-stage race aims to become a permanent fixture on the women\u2019s world tour cycling calendar. A Tour stage race took place from 1984 to 1989, running parallel with the men\u2019s edition, before later being shortened. Various other versions have been tried but they usually were underfunded.<\/p>\n
Online fitness platform Zwift has signed on with a four-year sponsorship after riders spent years calling for a women\u2019s version of the race. Some rode every stage of the men\u2019s race to raise awareness of the issue until ASO announced the new event.<\/p>\n
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PARIS (AP) \u2014 Lorena Wiebes of the Netherlands sprinted to victory on Sunday in the first stage of the women\u2019s Tour de France which returned after a 33-year absence. The Team DSM rider struck in the last 150 meters of the 82-kilometer (51-mile) circuit in Paris to beat former Olympic champion Marianne Vos to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-196243","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196243\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}