Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) won stage 6 of the Tour de France Femmes after a 32km solo move.
The 23-year-old from Brest, the start town of stage 2, attacked on the Col du Chansert and was let go as she was no danger in the general classification, cresting the top a minute ahead of the peloton containing the GC favourites.
Squiban extended her lead on the climb to the bonus sprint in Valcivières and descended to the finish in Ambert, crossing the finish line 1:09 minutes ahead of second.
"Honestly, it’s incredible," said a teary-eyed Squiban post-stage, having surprised everyone, including herself, with the biggest win of her career.
"When they told me I had a minute and a half, I couldn’t believe it. I mainly wanted to get a head start before the climb to the bonus sprint. Then I was hoping to be part of a small group from the bonus sprint to the finish.
"It's really an amazing feeling. I didn't expect to do that.
"I know we had a strong team, we are only four now, but we are all really strong, and we knew that we were able to do something big today. Finally, we did it. A special day for us."
Juliette Labous (FDJ-Suez) was the runner-up on the day, having attacked from the peloton on the descent, with yellow jersey Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) leading the sprint home for third, another four seconds back.
Kim Le Court-Pienaar won the sprint behind for third ahead of Demi Vollering in Ambert (Image credit: Getty Images)
Le Court-Pienaar kept hold of the yellow jersey, extending her lead by eight seconds thanks to the bonus sprint in Valcivières and the four she gained in the bunch.
The Mauritian champion is now 26 seconds ahead of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and 30 seconds in front of defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), heading into three more mountain stages.
How it unfolded
With the first-category Col du Béal and the second-category Col du Chansert, two third-category climbs, and a climb with a bonus sprint at the top, the 123.7km stage 6 from Clermont-Ferrand to Ambert was the first medium mountain stage of the race.
After several breakaway attempts during the beginning phase of the stage, Linda Zanetti (Uno-X Mobility) was the first to really get away with 100km to go.
Before the intermediate sprint in Sermentizon, Zanetti was joined by Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Élise Chabbey, Amber Kraak (both FDJ-Suez), Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck), Mischa Bredewold, Femke Gerritse (both SD Worx-Protime), Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ), Jelena Erić, Liane Lippert (both Movistar), Emma Norsgaard, Lauretta Hanson (both Lidl-Trek), Ilse Pluimers (AG Insurance-Soudal), Pfeiffer Georgi (Picnic PostNL), Letizia Paternoster, Silke Smulders (both Liv AlUla Jayco), Lily Williams (Human Powered Health), Usoa Ostolaza (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Laura Molenaar (VolkerWessels), and Morgane Coston (Roland Le Dévoluy), forming a breakaway of twenty riders.
A large early breakaway formed on stage 6 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Chabbey took maximum points on the Côte de Courpière, but Chapman beat her to the top on the Côte d’Augerolles. After the descent, twelve riders remained in front: Paladin, Chabbey, Kraak, Kastelijn, Gerritse, Chapman, Lippert, Hanson, Georgi, Smulders, Ostolaza, and Coston. 1:19 minutes behind Le Court-Pienaar before the stage, Chabbey also briefly assumed the virtual leader’s jersey, but when the 10km Col du Béal started, the peloton was only 54 seconds behind.
That gap was reduced even further on the climb, and Paladin, Chabbey (who took maximum points again, further bolstering her lead in the mountain classification), Kastelijn, Chapman, Lippert, Smulders, Ostolaza, and Coston were only 24 seconds ahead at the top.
Elisa Chabbey was active throughout the day in the polka-dot jersey of the queen of the mountains (Image credit: Getty Images)
The front group fell apart on the descent where Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) and Niewiadoma-Phinney attacked from the peloton, splitting it into several groups.
Things came together again on the lower slopes of the Col du Chansert, and 33.3km from the line, Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek) and Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) bridged across the 14-second gap to lone leader Chabbey. They were all reeled in soon afterwards, though, and then Squiban made her move and was let go.
Squiban got away from the peloton with 32km still to race on stage 6 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Squiban extended her advantage slowly but steadily to just over a minute at the top of the climb as nobody really took up the chase, even allowing dropped riders to return to the peloton.
Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) suffered a mechanical on the descent, losing over two minutes on the other GC contenders in the end. In the peloton, FDJ-Suez were leading the chase but did not come any closer to Squiban, who was 1:21 minutes ahead at the Valcivières bonus sprint, where Le Court-Pienaar and Niewiadoma-Phinney took the last remaining bonus seconds.
Squiban did not have to take any risks in the descent to the finish and could celebrate her victory. Labous attacked from the peloton and held on for second place while Le Court-Pienaar beat Vollering to third place.
Squiban was in disbelief at the finish as she celebrated victory (Image credit: Getty Images)
Lukas Knöfler started working in cycling communications in 2013 and has seen the inside of the scene from many angles. Having worked as press officer for teams and races and written for several online and print publications, he has been Cyclingnews’ Women’s WorldTour correspondent since 2018.
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