Pauline Ferrand-Prevot becomes the first French winner of the Tour de France Femmes for 36 years as she triumphs on stage nine.
Pauline Ferrand-Prevot became the first French winner of the Tour de France Femmes for 36 years as she triumphed on stage nine.
An emotional and exhausted Ferrand-Prevot lay on the floor after crossing the finish line in Chatel as the magnitude of her achievement began to sink in.
The Olympic mountain bike champion returned to road racing after seven seasons away with the goal of winning the yellow jersey.
Having moved top of the general classification by winning Saturday's queen stage atop the Col de la Madeleine, Visma-Lease a Bike rider Ferrand-Prevot burst clear with six kilometres to go on Sunday to claim victory in style.
Jeannie Longo was the most recent winner of the race in 1989, when it was known as the Tour de France Feminin.
No Frenchman was won the Tour de France since Bernard Hinault in 1985.
Ferrand-Prevot, who led by two minutes 37 seconds before the final stage, bided her time on the 124.1km route from Praz-sur-Arly - featuring more than 2,800m of ascent - before launching her decisive move.
She had time to lap up the crowd's support in the closing stages as she crossed the line 20 seconds clear of 2023 champion Demi Vollering.
Ferrand-Prevot ended the race with a cushion of 3mins 42secs over FDJ-Suez rider Vollering, who climbed to second as Sarah Gigante dropped out of the podium places on the final day.
Last year's winner Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney, riding for Canyon-Sram-ZondaCrypto, was third overall after finishing third on the stage.
"I came back on the road after my Olympic title and I said I will try to win the Tour de France in the next three years," said Ferrand-Prevot. "So here I am - the first one.
"My team-mates worked super hard for me all week long. I just want to say thank you and congrats to them, to my entire team."
Lorena Wiebes won the green jersey for topping the points classification, Elise Chabbey claimed the polka dot jersey as the best climber, and Nienke Vinke took the white jersey for best young rider.
Stage nine results
- Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Fra/Visma-Lease a Bike) 3hrs 38mins 23secs
- Demi Vollering (Ned/FDJ-Suez) +20secs
- Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol/Canyon-Sram-ZondaCrypto) +23secs
- Niamh Fisher-black (Nzl/Lidl-Trek) same time
- Dominika Wlodarczyk (Pol/UAE Team ADQ) +33secs
- Juliette Labous (Fra/FDJ-Suez) +1min 49secs
- Sarah Gigante (Aus/AG Insurance-Soudal) +3mins 53secs
- Cedrine Kerbaol (Fra/EF Education-Oatly) +9mins 22secs
- Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned/Fenix-Deceuninck) +9mins 23secs
- Nadia Gontova (Can/Winspace Orange Seal) +9mins 26secs
General classification after stage nine
- Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Fra/Visma-Lease a Bike) 29hrs 54mins 24secs
- Demi Vollering (Ned/FDJ-Suez) +3mins 42secs
- Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol/Canyon-Sram-ZondaCrypto) +4mins 9secs
- Dominika Wlodarczyk (Pol/UAE Team ADQ) +5mins 45secs
- Niamh Fisher-black (Nzl/Lidl-Trek) +6mins 25secs
- Sarah Gigante (Aus/AG Insurance-Soudal) +6mins 40secs
- Juliette Labous (Fra/FDJ-Suez) +9mins 13secs
- Cedrine Kerbaol (Fra/EF Education-Oatly) +13mins 43secs
- Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned/Fenix-Deceuninck) +13mins 59secs
- Evita Muzic (Fra/FDJ-Suez) +15mins 50secs
Category: General Sports
