Sensational Squiban does it again in Tour de France Femmes, AG Insurance riders escape unscathed in first Alps climb

After the first encounter with the mountains in the Massif Central on Thursday, Friday saw the first Alpine stage in this edition of the Tour de France Femmes. The riders had to cover almost 160 kilometers from Bourg-en-Bresse, with the Col du Granier (8.9 kilometers at 5.3 percent) clearly the most challenging part of the stage.

The first mountain stage was won on Thursday by the surprising Frenchwoman Maeve Squiban of UAE Team ADQ, which clearly gave her wings: she was also one of the first to attack in stage seven. This opened the breakaway, with a large group of seventeen riders eventually forming ahead of the peloton. This also made for a fast opening hour, with more than 46 kilometers covered.

Chloe Dygert (Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto), Marie Le Net (FDJ-Suez), Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime), Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ), Mareille Meijering (Movistar), Lucinda Brand, Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek), Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance Soudal-Team), Megan Jastrab (Picnic PostNL), Susanne Andersen (Uno-X Mobility), Célia Le Mouel (Ceratizit), Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health), Alicia Gonzalez (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93), Alice Arzuffi (Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi), Fiona Mangan (Winspace Orange Seal), Eline Jansen, and Maud Rijnbeek (VolkerWessels) were the names, with Jansen—5.40 minutes behind—being the best placed.

In such a large group, cooperation is often difficult, and that was also the case this time. Kopecky and Dygert tried to use their skills as time trialists to gain a little more of a lead, but they did not immediately succeed in their plan. Meanwhile, in the large group, there was a crash and withdrawal by Soraya Paladin (Canyon//SRAM).

The breakaway group eventually started with a lead of more than three minutes on the Côte de Saint-Frac: 3.8 kilometers at 7.1 percent. The peloton took off there, with Fenix-Deceuninck as the prominent team at the front. They immediately gained a few minutes in the run-up to the decisive Col du Granier, although this was partly due to some risky moves at the front.

The large group started the Granier with a two-minute gap, where Rijnbeek took the lead solo. She was caught by Edwards and Meijering, after which Squiban and Van Anrooij also started to make their way to the front. Meanwhile, the peloton began the final climb at a slightly slower pace, increasing the gap to almost three minutes.

Squiban had good legs again and left her fellow breakaway riders behind once more, while Yara Kastelijn increased the pace in the peloton. This paid off: her own Puck Pieterse had to drop back, but yellow jersey Kimberly Le Court was also unable to keep up with four kilometers to go. This was the signal for the other GC contenders to pick up the pace, although they did not push through completely.

Just before the top, Vollering took the lead to put pressure on Sarah Gigante in the descent, but teammate Ghekiere vocally and tactically supported the AG rider. Le Court, the other lady from the Belgian team, came back in the meantime and was able to keep her yellow jersey. Gigante eventually lost about ten seconds.