The Frenchwoman capped her stunning return to road racing with victory in the sport’s biggest race
Olympic champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot became the first Frenchwoman to win the Tour de France Femmes on Sunday, pushing through three punishing climbs to clinch the final stage ahead of 2023 champion Demi Vollering, who finished second overall.
The 33-year-old of team Visma-Lease a Bike - who only returned to road racing this year after a seven-year hiatus - held steady through the 124.1km ride from Praz-sur-Arly to Chatel, before countering a move by Vollering and launching a decisive attack in the last seven kilometres.
She fell to the ground in tears after crossing the finish line and celebrated with her parents, while compatriot Jeannie Longo - a three-time winner of a previous incarnation of the Tour, in the 1980s, and the last French champion - made an appearance at the roadside on a great day for the host nation.
“I'm so, so happy,” Ferrand-Prevot told reporters. “I was a bit scared with the pressure of this jersey... I had to stick to the front and just stay there.”
Vollering, of FDJ-Suez, stayed in a group with Ferrand-Prevot for the majority of the ninth stage, but could not break away to make up her deficit of more than three minutes coming into the final day.
The Dutch rider finished second in the race for the second year in a row, and secured a podium spot for the fourth year running, losing out on the yellow jersey by three minutes and 42 seconds. Defending champion Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM) finished third overall, four minutes and nine seconds back.
Ferrand-Prevot, who won gold in the cross-country mountain biking at last year’s Paris Games, had taken the yellow jersey from Kimberley Le Court on Saturday.
Australia’s Sarah Gigante, who was second overall coming into the final stage, tried to get ahead of Ferrand-Prevot on the hors-categorie Col de Joux Plane, but the Frenchwoman stayed on her wheels.
Gigante’s poor descending cost her in the latter stages of the race. She fell behind as Ferrand-Prevot and her rivals caught up with the lone breakway rider Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) on the way to Col du Corbier, the final major climb of the 1,168.6km race, and slipped to sixth overall, losing four minutes.
The exhausted leading group was unable to keep up when Ferrand-Prevot launched her final attack and crossed the finish line 20 seconds before Vollering to huge applause from the crowd in Chatel.
Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), who has led the points classification since stage three, cemented her position to deny Dutch compatriot Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) a third green jersey. Vollering’s teammate Elise Chabbey won the Queen of the Mountains jersey and 21-year-old Dutchwoman Nienke Vinke secured the best young rider award.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Category: General Sports
