Tour de France Femmes 2023: Liane Lippert denies Lotte Kopecky double on Stage 2, Eva van Agt in nasty crash

Liane Lippert (Movistar) landed the biggest win of her career with a well-timed sprint on Stage 2 at the 2023 Tour de France Femmes, although the day was marred by a big crash for Eva van Agt (Jumbo-Visma).

The German, whose main role in France is helping deliver a second yellow jersey for team-mate Annemiek van Vleuten, denied Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) a second straight win after proving the strongest in the home straight.

A breakaway trio of Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck), Anouska Koster (Uno-X) and Van Agt had over a minute on the peloton with 29km remaining before the wet weather ended their hopes.

First, Kastelijn was forced to take evasive action after almost sliding out on a corner, seeing her two companions disappear up the road, before Van Agt crashed heavily into a roadside barrier as the peloton gave chase.

It all came back together on the final climb, with Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon–SRAM) and Marlen Reusser (SD Worx) seeing attacks foiled before Demi Vollering (SD Worx) began a leadout for Kopecky.

But Kopecky faded after being dropped off near the finish, with Lippert coming through to comfortably beat the Belgian and Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ). Still, she retained the yellow jersey and now leads Lippert, who jumped into second courtesy of her 10 bonus seconds, by 49 seconds in the overall rankings.