#Anniina Ahtosalo

[womensworldtour]

Tour de France Femmes - Stage 1

It's finally here, the biggest stage race on the Women's World Tour calendar, le Tour de France Femmes (avec Zwift, if you prefer). This was a true sprint stage, pancake flat, with the only climb with mountain points coming over a bridge as the riders rode *up* to sea level!

In terms of excitement, it was admittedly a snoozer, with few attacks, no cross-winds, and the bunch all coming in together. Commentators were reduced to following the occasional rider coming back to the bunch from mechanical.

As the peloton wound its way into The Hague, the speed predictably picked up, with the last kilometer being raced at more than 60kph. In a chaotic finish with what seemed like a premature launch, Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich-postNL) had a phenomenal kick and won the sprint by about three bike-lengths, a fantastic result for a rider who had a rough season so far.

It does seem fitting to have a Dutch rider winning the first stage in the Netherlands, although the betting odds might have been on Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime). However, Wiebes appeared to have had a late mechanical and wasn't able to contest the sprint. The closest riders to Kool were Anniina Ahtosalo (Uno X-Mobiliy), Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), and Lotta Henttala (EF-Oatly-Cannondale), and Marianne Vos (Visma Lease-a-Bike). It's kind of fun that Team dsm-firmenich-postNL won the first stage in the Tour de France Femmes and the Tour de France Hommes (with Romain Bardet) this year.

Cristina Tonetti (Labora Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi) won the "mountain" points climb over Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) and landed in the polka-dot jersey, a nice day for her and her team!

And Anniina Ahtosalo (Uno-X Mobility) wears the white jersey, a nice reward for her second-place finish! (Strong Finnish representation in that final sprint, by the way.)

And so Charlotte Kool takes the first yellow jersey for this year's TdFF. She actually takes the green jersey as well, though she'll loan it out tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, Tuesday will see the peculiar double stage day, with a short sprint stage in the morning and a short ITT in the evening. (Pour one out for the team mechanics, they're going to be working overtime tonight and tomorrow!) These split stages are weird, we've see them in races like Baloise Ladies Tour, but not the Tour. However, the organizers wanted to keep eight stages, even though they were constrained on the calendar by the Paris Olympics, and this was the solution. Kool could keep the yellow jersey through Stage 2, but it might be a taller order to keep the jersey after the ITT on Stage 3.

[goalhofer]

2024 olympics Finland roster

Archery

Antti Tekoniemi (Teuva)

Athletics

Elmo Lakka (Elimäki)

Topi Raitanen (Tampere)

Veli-Matti Partanen (Lappeenranta)

Urho Kujanpää (Ylöjärvi)

Oliver Helander (Vaasa)

Lassi Etelätalo (Joensuu)

Toni Keränen (Liminka)

Lotta Kemppinen (Helsinki)

Eveliina Määttänen (Kerava)

Sara Lappalainen (Porvoo)

Nathalie Blomqvist (Jakobstad)

Lotta Harala (Tampere)

Reetta Hurske (Ikaalinen)

Viivi Lehikoinen (Helsinki)

Ilona Mononen (Hämeenlinna)

Camilla Richardsson (Vantaa)

Ella Junnila (Espoo)

Wilma Murto (Kuusjoki)

Elina Lampela (Helsinki)

Senni Salminen (Imatra)

Silja Kosonen (Raisio)

Krista Tervo (Kotka)

Suvi Koskinen (Kauhajoki)

Anni-Linnea Alanen (Vähäkyrö)

Saga Vanninen (Tampere)

Badminton

Kalle Koljonen (Helsinki)

Boxing

Pihla Kaivo-Oja (Kangasala)

Cycling

Joni Savaste (Helsinki)

Anniina Ahtosalo (Tuusula)

Equestrian

Henri Ruoste (Menden, Germany)

Emma Kanerva (Mikkeli)

Joanna Robinson (Helsinki)

Veera Manninen (Pieksämäki)

Sann Siltakorpi (Parkano)

Golf

Sami Välimäki (Pirkkala)

Tapio Pulkkanen (Kotka)

Ursula Wikström (Espoo)

Noora Komulainen (Tuusula)

Judo

Luukas Saha (Tampere)

Martti Puumalainen (Mikkelin Maalaiskunta)

Sailing

Jakob Eklund (Espoo)

Kaarle Tapper (Helsinki)

Akseli Keskinen (Tuusula)

Ronja Grönblom (Helsinki)

Veera Hokka (Espoo)

Monika Mikkola (Espoo)

Sinem Kurtbay (Savonlinna)

Shooting

Aleksi Leppä (Hamina)

Eetu Kallioinen (Loppi)

Noora Antikainen (Mallusjoki)

Skateboarding

Heili Sirviö (Canberra, Australia)

Swimming

Matti Mattsson (Pori)

Ida Hulkko (Mikkeli)

Wrestling

Jonni Sarkkinen (Helsinki)

Arvi Savolainen (Lahti)

[trixies-allstar-crown]

Martina Fidanza wins Ronde de Mouscron

Anniina Ahtosalo second, Valentine Fortin third in Mouscron from CyclingNews RSS Feed https://www.cyclingnews.com/races/ronde-de-mouscron-2023/elite-women/results/