It’s yellow and black and it rides incredibly fast: Ferrand-Prévot makes bold move for Tour de France Femmes victory with a masterclass for Visma | LaB

The climbing began straight from the start in Chambéry, with the Col de Plainpalais immediately setting the tone as a first-category climb, and it sparked an intense battle. Yellow jersey wearer Kimberly Le Court tried multiple times to go with the moves, but in the end, a breakaway formed without the rider from Mauritius.

Even without the yellow jersey, the breakaway was packed with firepower: Dutch riders Riejanne Markus (Lidl–Trek), Yara Kastelijn (Fenix–Deceuninck), and Mareille Meijering (Movistar) were in the mix, along with dangerous riders like Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ), Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl–Trek), Elise Chabbey, and Évita Muzic (FDJ–Suez).

The latter-mentioned French rider, Évita Muzic, is one of Vollering’s master domestiques, but she herself was still 1:35 away from donning the yellow jersey. That’s why Le Court’s team kept the gap under tight control: at the top of the first climb, the difference was only 30 seconds.

On the descent, however, with weaker descender Gigante in the group, the pace eased slightly, and the breakaway’s lead grew to nearly three minutes. This meant that Muzic, who had started the stage 1:35 down, was now riding in the virtual yellow jersey. A smart tactical play by FDJ–Suez?

It seemed that way, as AG Insurance–Soudal Quick-Step got help from Visma | Lease a Bike and Canyon//SRAM to make sure the gap, which had reached four minutes at one point, didn’t grow too large. On the descent from the Col de Frené, it was yellow jersey wearer Le Court herself who took the lead for Gigante, but things went wrong in the very first corner: she rode straight off the road. Le Court got back on her bike, albeit battered.

Lorena Wiebes then took the lead on behalf of SD Worx–Protime, setting a pace that was too high for Gigante and many others. The peloton broke into several pieces, and Visma | Lease a Bike and SD Worx–Protime took full advantage, pushing the pace to make life difficult for Gigante and Le Court. The Australian saw the danger and, on an uphill stretch, bridged the gap solo: an impressive move.

With 40 kilometers to go, another climb, followed by a descent, was still on the route, and the pace once again ramped up in the main group on the way down. Gigante and Le Court found themselves on the wrong side of the split, but Ferrand-Prévot also missed the move and had to put her teammates to work to fix the situation before the base of the Madeleine.

By the time they reached the foot of the final climb, the lead of the front group had shrunk to just a minute and a half. But the big names started the first kilometers of the Madeleine at a more measured pace. Yellow jersey Le Court took to the front to work for the stronger climber, Gigante.

With fifteen kilometers to go until the summit, we saw the first favorite crack: Anna van der Breggen, riding for SD Worx–Protime, was unable to keep up. The pace wasn’t even that high at that point, Fisher-Black and Kastelijn, the remnants of the early breakaway, were actually gaining time on the group of favorites on the climb.

With eleven kilometers to go, the anticipated attack from Gigante came. Only Rooijakkers was able to respond immediately. Ferrand-Prévot managed to bridge across at her own pace, but for Vollering, the tempo was clearly too much. An interlude by Justine Ghekiere caused Rooijakkers to lose contact too, allowing a decisive gap to open. At that point, ten kilometers from the finish, Vollering was already more than a minute behind. Her hopes of winning the Tour were effectively over.

Eight kilometers from the finish, Ferrand-Prévot launched her acceleration, immediately dropping Gigante and storming past the last of the breakaway riders. On her way to Tour victory? It certainly looked that way, Ferrand-Prévot rode everyone completely off her wheel.

Behind her, Vollering managed to regroup slightly and bridged the gap to Rooijakkers and Niewiadoma, but it was clear she was having a tough day. In the final stretch, she found a bit more strength, managing to drop Niewiadoma and company.