Thursday 20 July 2017 12:09, UK
Lizzie Deignan had to settle for second as Annemiek van Vleuten won the opening stage of La Course by Le Tour on the Col d'Izoard.
Van Vleuten crossed the line 43 seconds ahead of Deignan at the top of the famed Alpine climb which will also form the finish of the 18th stage of the Tour de France later on Thursday.
The Dutch rider, part of the Orica-Scott team, stormed clear of the remaining leaders inside the final 5km of the stiff climb, chosen to host the first of two stages in a new-look event which had previously taken place in Paris before the final stage of the Tour.
She will now take an advantage into the second and final stage, a pursuit-style time-trial on the streets of Marseille on Saturday, again taking place just before the corresponding men's time-trial.
Deignan had attempted to get her Boels-Dolman team-mate Megan Guarnier in position for victory and felt doing that might have cost her the chance of beating Van Vleuten.
She said: "We took control like we wanted to. I made a mistake of not having confidence in myself and ended up being a domestique.
"Megan put her hand up and said she could be leader. That's cycling."
Guarnier ended up finishing fourth, 1:28 behind Van Vleuten, with Italy's Elisa Longo Borghini taking third place for Wiggle-Honda.
Stage 1 result:
1 Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Orica-Scott 2hr 07min 18sec
2 Lizzie Deignan (Gbr) Boels Dolman +43s
3 Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Wiggle-Honda +1:23
4 Megan Guarnier (USA) Boels Dolman +1:28
5 Shara Gillow (Aus) FDJ +1:33
