Pauline Ferrand-Prevot claims the leader's yellow jersey on the penultimate stage of the Tour de France Femmes with victory on the Col de la Madeleine.
Pauline Ferrand-Prevot claimed the leader's yellow jersey on the penultimate stage of the Tour de France Femmes with a stunning victory on the spectacular Col de la Madeleine.
Ferrand-Prevot, carrying French hopes of a home champion, produced a devastating performance on this year's queen stage to replace Kim le Court at the top of the general classification standings before Sunday's finale.
The eighth day of racing featured more than 3,500m of climbing, including the third-highest summit finish in the race's history at 2,000m above sea level.
Olympic mountain bike champion Ferrand-Prevot was motivated to return to road racing after seven seasons away to win the yellow jersey.
That goal is now within reach after she crossed the line one minute and 45 seconds clear of Sarah Gigante, who moved up to second overall - two minutes and 37 seconds behind Ferrand-Prevot.
Demi Vollering, the 2023 champion, moved up one place to third overall after crossing the line in fourth, behind Niamh Fisher-Black, as former leader Le Court dropped out of the top 10.
The general classification competition was finely poised before Saturday's dramatic action, with the top five riders separated by just 35 seconds.
Le Court, of team AG Insurance-Soudal, held a 26-second advantage over Visma-Lease a Bike's Ferrand-Prevot, while defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney and Vollering were both within 31 seconds of the lead.
Le Court suffered a crash on a descent and lost around one minute to the peloton earlier in the day, but managed to catch the main group with more than 45km to go.
Following that recovery, rather than riding to protect the yellow jersey she claimed in winning stage five on Wednesday, Le Court pushed the pace on the Col de la Madeleine to set up an attack by team-mate Sarah Gigante.
However, Ferrand-Prevot was able to follow Gigante and launched a counter-attack to make her way to the front of the race 7km from the summit.
Only Fisher-Black and Yara Kastelijn remained from the day's breakaway and Ferrand-Prevot soon proved too strong as she powered clear to the finish.
On a gruelling final ascent of the hors categorie Col de la Madeleine, lasting 18.6km at an average gradient of 8.1%, the 33-year-old, who rode to victory solo at Paris-Roubaix in April, put herself in a dominant position with one day of racing left.
Sunday's concluding stage offers a final opportunity for the riders to improve their standing, with another mountainous 124.1km route from Praz-sur-Arly to Chatel featuring more than 2,800m of ascent.
Stage eight results
- Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Fra/Visma-Lease a Bike) 3hrs 47mins 24secs
- Sarah Gigante (Aus/AG Insurance-Soudal) +1min 45secs
- Niamh Fisher-black (Nzl/Lidl-Trek) +2mins 15secs
- Demi Vollering (Ned/FDJ-Suez) +3mins 3secs
- Yara Kastelijn (Ned/Fenix–Deceuninck) +3mins 3secs
- Cedrine Kerbaol (Fra/EF Education-Oatly) +3mins 18secs
- Dominika Wlodarczyk (Pol/UAE Team ADQ) +3mins 22secs
- Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol/Canyon-Sram-ZondaCrypto) +3mins 26secs
- Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned/Fenix-Deceuninck) +3mins 38secs
- Marion Bunel (Fra/Visma-Lease a Bike) +4mins 31secs
General classification after stage eight
- Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Fra/Visma-Lease a Bike) 26hrs 16mins 11secs
- Sarah Gigante (Aus/AG Insurance-Soudal) +2mins 37secs
- Demi Vollering (Ned/FDJ-Suez) +3mins 18secs
- Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol/Canyon-Sram-ZondaCrypto) +3mins 40secs
- Cedrine Kerbaol (Fra/EF Education-Oatly) +4mins 11secs
- Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned/Fenix-Deceuninck) +4mins 26secs
- Dominika Wlodarczyk (Pol/UAE Team ADQ) +5mins 2secs
- Niamh Fisher-black (Nzl/Lidl-Trek) +5mins 52secs
- Evita Muzic (Fra/FDJ-Suez) +5mins 58secs
- Juliette Labous (Fra/FDJ-Suez) +7mins 14secs
Category: General Sports
