Ferrand-Prévot improves at Tour de France Femmes as Visma’s Plan B falls apart

Visma | Lease a Bike have endured another miserable day at the Tour de France Femmes. The Dutch team watched defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot fall out of overall contention in the space of only a few days. Then, just as ambitious plans were being drawn up around Femke de Vries following stage 5, the Dutch rider struggled badly during Stage 6.

Ferrand-Prévot had been Visma | Lease a Bike’s designated leader throughout the Tour, although the team stated before the race that De Vries and climber Marion Bunel gave them two additional cards to play. It quickly became clear that De Vries was regarded as a dangerous rider, with the general-classification teams bringing her back whenever she attempted to escape during the opening stages.

She finally succeeded during stage 5, finishing eighth on an explosive day and climbing to eighth place in the general classification. At just over three minutes behind race leader Marlen Reusser of Movistar, she suddenly found herself in a far stronger position than Ferrand-Prévot. The Frenchwoman had already lost ground in the stage 4 time trial before cracking again and conceding significant time during stage 5.

Before the start of Stage 6, De Vries told NOS that her performance—and Ferrand-Prévot’s difficulties—had earned her a new role. “It was great. I’m really happy with how it went,” she said about the previous stage, in which she had surged into general-classification contention. “We are going to share the leadership now,” she revealed.

“We will both be protected. It is great that we can make that work, although it is obviously disappointing for Pauline that things have not gone her way. It is nice that we can switch things around a little and both receive protection,” De Vries continued. Looking ahead to stage 6, she added: “I don’t know whether they will let me go again, although it is less difficult than yesterday, with less elevation gain and fewer steep climbs.”

The team’s ambitions with De Vries suffered an enormous blow as early as stage 6. The general-classification contenders once again made the finale extremely demanding, but this time it was Ferrand-Prévot who managed to stay with the very best riders. De Vries held on for a long time but was eventually forced to let the group go, and she was dropped too early to keep her losses under control.

The group of favourites ultimately finished 28 seconds behind stage winner Kim Le Court. De Vries conceded no fewer than 3 minutes and 7 seconds, sending her tumbling out of the top ten and even outside the top 15. After six stages, Ferrand-Prévot is once again Visma | Lease a Bike’s highest-placed rider, five minutes behind Reusser. De Vries is now 5 minutes and 50 seconds down, one position behind her French teammate.