Tour Féminin des Pyrénées: Paula Blasi tames the Tourmalet to take stage 2 victory and commanding overall lead
Spaniard in a league of her own over the mighty mountain
Paul Blasi (UAE Team ADQ) took control of the Tour Féminin des Pyrénées with a storming solo victory on stage 2 on Saturday.
The Spanish sensation, who has won the Amstel Gold Race and the Vuelta Femenina in a breakthrough 2026 season, continued her rise with an untouchable climbing performance over the mighty Col du Tourmalet.
Blasi attacked more than 10km from the summit of the Tour de France's most-used mountain, before swooping down into Bagnères-de-Bigorre, where she celebrated almost two minutes before anyone else crossed the line.
It turned out to be a UAE Team ADQ 1-2, as Dominika Wlodarczyk led home the five-woman chase group, ahead of Emily Dixon (Canyon-SRAM), Ema Comte (Cofidis), Juliette Berthet (FDJ United-SUEZ), and Clémence Latimier (Ma Petite Entreprise).
The second of the three stages measured just under 100km and was all about the Tourmalet, both the ascent – 18.9km at an average gradient of 7.4% – and the long descent of nearly 30km to the finish.
Blasi wasn't hanging around and, after the bunch exploded on the lower slopes of the climb, she took flight with over 10km to the top and soloed her way up with a look of complete control.
She continued to gain time on the fragmented field in her wake all the way to the top, and all the way down to the bottom. She reached the summit with 1:42 in hand, and crossed the line 1:59 clear.
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With no time bonuses on offer, Blasi leads the general classification by 1:59 over Wlodarczyk, Dixon, Comte, Berthet, and Latimier.
The next quartet to finish rounds out the top 10, some 3:46 behind Blasi: Quinty Schoens (Volker-Wessels), Usoa Ostolaza (Laboral-Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Yuliia Biriukova (Laboral-Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), and Eisen Malou (Volker-Wessels).
The Tour Féminin des Pyrénées concludes on Sunday with a day of punchy climbs rather than big mountains, so Blasi's commanding lead looks set to be a race-winning one bar any exceptional drama.
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Patrick is an NCTJ-accredited journalist with a bachelor’s degree in modern languages (French and Spanish) and a decade’s experience in digital sports media, largely within the world of cycling. He re-joined Cyclingnews as Deputy Editor in February 2026, having previously spent eight years on staff between 2015 and 2023. In between, he was Deputy Editor at GCN and spent 18 months working across the sports portfolio at Future before returning to the cycling press pack. Patrick works across Cyclingnews’ wide-ranging output, assisting the Editor in global content strategy, with a particular focus on shaping CN's news operation.
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