For the second time in as many years, twenty teams of six riders lined up on the Champs Élysées to race La Course: thirteen laps of the 6.75km circuit on Paris's celebrated and cobbled avenue. But before the race (and the rain) got started, several of the teams warmed up on the course. Below: Ale Cipollini.
Team Liv Plantur.
United Healthcare.
Poitou-Charentes.Futurscope.86.
Megan Guarnier and her Boels Dolmans teammates.
Under a threatening sky, the race got underway.
Italian champion Elena Cecchini, Rushlee Buchanan, and Thea Thorsen.
Lizzie Armitstead in the bunch.
Maria Confalonieri and Olena Pavlukhina fell off the back.
Carlee Taylor of Lotto Soudal Ladies drove the peloton on lap three.
Fanny Riberot, Emma Johansson, and Katherine Hall.
Velocio SRAM came to the front on lap four.
American champion Megan Guarnier and British champion Lizzie Armitstead.
Mia Radotic, Jolien d'Hoore, Sara Mustonen, and Katherine Hall.
Loren Rowney and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot.
Between the rain slicked roads and the demanding pace, several riders were in difficulty.
A select group formed for lap five.
Anouska Koster on lap six.
Emilie Aubry and Vera Koedooder of Bigla.
Norwegian champion Miriam Bjørnsrud and Heather Fischer.
Dutch champion Lucinda Brand.
Lucy Garner and Olga Dobrynina.
The peloton had largely come back together as UHC pulled on lap seven.
On lap eight, Luxembourg's champion Christine Majerus moved up. Also pictured: Trixi Worrack, Megan Guarnier, and Emma Johansson.
An attack on lap nine resulted in open road but she wasn't able to stay away.
Barbara Guarischi and Loren Rowney of Velocio SRAM.
Lizzie Armitstead and Annie Ewart were among those dropped.
Vera Koedooder on the eleventh lap.
By lap twelve, the bunch had been severely reduced after several crashes and a rapid pace.
Chloe Hosking.
The final lap and the peloton was compact.
After the riders had swung around the Arc de Triomohe, Rabo Liv's Anna van der Breggen attacked. She held a small gap and, impressively, managed to maintain it for the final kilometers. What was expected to come down to a sprint finish ended up with the bunch furiously chasing the Dutch rider, with Belgian champion Jolien d'Hoore placing second, and Amy Pieters rounding out the podium.
The fact that just 62 of the 120 starters survived the pace, persevered through the weather, and avoided the crashes testifies to the challenging nature of La Course.