04.07.2020 World-Tour, News, Race news

Stage one success at Virtual Tour de France

We had a successful start to the opening stage of the Virtual Tour de France, raced today on Zwift. The team took the lead in the green jersey sprint classification with Tanja Erath, the white jersey youth classification with Hannah Ludwig, and the team classification. The stage was won by 19 year old April Tacey (DRP).

Jess, who raced from her hometown in Australia at 23:00AEST, was pleased to be racing again. “It’s been a little while for all of us, so I think we were all a little nervous going in to today’s stage. It was short and sharp, on the gas most of the time, with very little opportunities to rest,” described Jess.

“We worked well as a team, rode efficiently and were consistently in the points on the sprints. The team morale was high and everyone was motivated to work for our goals. It was a great team effort and I’m looking forward to racing again!”

Tanja finished sixth on the stage and was delighted with the green jersey classification. “We wanted to race active and be present throughout the whole race. I really wanted to take the green jersey already on Stage 1 because that’s like a dream coming true. Maybe I went a little bit too deep in the first two laps going for the sprints and the QOM. Especially since my teammates raced so well to extend our lead. I could’ve saved a little bit more for the final, since we now miss the yellow jersey by only four points, but it was a great start to the tour for our team,” said Tanja.

Her teammate, Alexis, raced from her home in Athens, USA. “I felt surprisingly well during the race. It was definitely my best Zwift showing to date. I made a few tactical errors that cost me energy, and ultimately took away my chances of bringing in points for the team. Learned my lessons! I’ll bring that new knowledge into the coming stages.”

“I’m really proud of the team in today’s performance. Tanja, Hannah, and Jess are experienced, strong Zwift racers. That strength showed in the team results. We can be pretty happy coming away with the young rider, sprint, and team GC classifications,” added Alexis.

Taking the white jersey lead after stage one, Ludwig, was delighted with her race. “I didn’t expect much because I just finished a tough training camp but I felt really strong and I always enjoy racing as a team. I never really enjoy Zwift starts as you’re on the limit the whole time, but I managed to make it through, and then to be able to collect some points especially at the finish was a nice surprise.”

With the second stage being held tomorrow, Sunday 5 July at 15:02CEST, CANYON//SRAM Racing bring in four new riders for the first mountain stage of the tour: Alena Amialiusik, Hannah Barnes, Ella Harris and Omer Shapira will be the team’s roster.

Where to watch the stages

Globally on GCN app or Zwift.com here. Or choose your local broadcast in more than 130 countries including:

Pan-Europe (incl UK): Eurosport & GCN
Denmark: TV2 Sport
Norway: TV2 Sport/TV2 Sumo
France: FranceTVSport
Belgium Walloon: RTBF
Belgium Flemish: VRT
Netherlands: NOS
Portugal: RTP2
Spain: Teledeports
Sub-Saharan Africa: Supersport
USA: NBCSN
Canada: FloBikes
Australia: SBS
Japan: J Sports
China: Zhibo.tv
New Zealand: SKY Sport
Pan-Asia-Pacific: EurosportAsia & GCN