Tour de France Femmes 2024: stage one, Rotterdam to The Hague – live

73km to go: William Preston gets in touch: “Good morning. That’s an absolutely brilliant route for the race, and sets the scene brilliantly for some final day thrilling heroics. The Stage 3 time trial could be a chance to get a stomp on to get some time in the bank for the climbs into he final two days, but the hilly stage in between could throw up an upset. Also, that bike looks amazingly cool.”

75km to go: The peloton continues to look for breaks. Here’s one! Italy’s Cristina Tonetti goes off at quite a lick and opens up a gap of 10 seconds. This would be some break if she stayed away. And she takes it to 20, then to 30. As it’s just one rider away, the peloton seems relaxed enough.

88km to go: A feeding station is negotiated, to loud applause, and into the Dutch countryside they power. This is more open road, and the talk is of crosswinds. A few push to the front as if to escape the echelons. Can they stay away? Panic in the peloton? It’s pulled back into shape.

95km to go: The breakaway was fun while it lasted. But it didn’t last very long. The Dutch fans are out in force, packing every bridge. Hugely impressive turnout. Cycling is the national sport, after all. Mode of transport, in fact.

100km to go: A break – climbing past 20 seconds – and made of three riders. Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka (Canyon//SRAM Racing) and Gaia Masetti (AG Insurance – Soudal Team) followed Iurani Blanco’s (Laboral Kutxa – Fundación Euskadi). What will the GC teams do? The answer is to put the hammer down and soon to close the gap.

105km to go: As they head out of the suburbs, they dip in and out of a tunnel. The FDJ-Suez team is at the front of the peloton. Évita Muzic is their main contender for GC, though it’s a highly ambitious team.

115km to go: These roads in Rotterdam are rather narrow until they reach a dual carriageway. Lots of road furniture around, and that could be a problem. It’s 28 degrees out there, a windspeed of 14km/h. There’s been no breakaway so far. But the tension is high, and the pack of 154 riders is being spread out. Lidl/Trek, featuring Lizzie Deignan, are up at the front and there’s a huge crowd on one of the bridges. Demi Vollering is way back in the pack, being protected by her superdomestique.

And away we go in Rotterdam!

Before the départ réel, they are flying along, and there’s punctures and wobbles galore. That’s likely to delay the race until after Kilometre Zero. Lots of people out in the streets of Rotterdam. Elena Pirrone has a flat and her hand up. The commissaires are aware.

Another favourite for the day is the Paris 2024 winner.

Crash before the start line!

The favourite is last year’s winner, according to Jeremy Whittle’s preview.

Over eight stages, including a split stage of road race and time trial on Tuesday, the peloton will race south from the Low Countries to the Alps, via the Ardennes, Vosges and Jura. The highest point will be the 1,924-metre Col du Glandon, appearing on stage eight’s route to the Alpe, when the peloton will tackle just under 4,000 metres of climbing.

Preamble