Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) managed to break away in textbook fashion on the Côte de Limies, the only climb on the 2020 Tour de France la course, but the road race world champion was outnumbered by Trek-Segafredo He said he was thwarted by the sheer strength of Trek-Segafredo in terms of numbers.

"When I saw the parcours of La Course, I knew it wasn't my race.

"I was a little unlucky because there were two Trek riders (in the breakaway group). If there had been only one Trek rider it would have been easier to attack, but today I put one rider on the attack and saved one for the sprint.

Trek-Segafredo's Lizzie Diégnan won the six-rider breakaway sprint on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. She beat Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv) and Demi Vollering (Parkhotel Valkenburg). Deignan's teammate Elisa Longo Borghini also set up Deignan's victory perfectly, covering her rivals' attacks on the last lap and into the finish. Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) also joined the breakaway, finishing in fourth place.

Van Vleuten finished fifth in the six-man sprint, but was awarded the event's Combat Award for his aggressive race strategy in the 96km road race. Van Vleuten attacked on the descent of the Côte de Limier with 44 km to go, setting up a competitive race that only five riders could follow.

She then led the breakaway for 13 km, building a gap before her companions joined the rotation. She later said she did not expect to get help from her rivals on this move.

"There was no frustration," she said. I just accepted the scenario and didn't look back...I ran 13km by myself and didn't ask anyone for help. I just kept running and hoped everyone else was suffering as much as I was.

Van Vleuten, who won this race in 2017 and 2018, came into this race as one of the favorites to win, having won most of the races she started this year. She opened with a win at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in March, followed by three one-day races in Spain in July, Strade Bianche in early August, and the European Championships on Thursday.

She criticized La Course by Tour de France, a 96-km, two-lap course that includes the Côte de Limier, as not challenging enough for the Women's World Tour.

After the race, however, she said she wanted a more challenging course, but was proud that she had increased its difficulty by attacking and making the race harder.

"It's true what everyone said about it being a sprinter's race. I'm proud of what I did and at least I contributed to making it a spectacular race."

"The plan was to attack on the downhill of the climb, and when I attacked on the first lap I knew it would be hard to make a difference there because it was only four or five percent. There wasn't a moment when it was even a little bit steep and that didn't help."

"It was a shame we didn't do the reverse loop. On paper, the 23 km after the descent was flat and straight, but we didn't have enough material to make a really beautiful race. We should have made it longer to tire out the field, go uphill, and race some more."

In the end, Van Vleuten was pleased to have won both the Combat and Mountain prizes.

"I got to wear the rainbow jersey, and I won the Combat and Mountains prizes, so at least Mitchelton Scott got to be on the podium to please his sponsors.