Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) won stage 8 of the Tour de France Femmes, the queen stage finishing atop the Col de la Madeleine, taking the GC lead with one stage to go, obliterating her rivals in the overall classification.
Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) finished second on the stage, 1:45 minutes back, moving up to second overall. From the early breakaway, Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) finished third, 2:15 minutes down.
“It was so painful, the last kilometre, also because I wanted to have a gap as big as possible for tomorrow. I also tried to enjoy it, but until the finish line is crossed, it's not over yet,” Ferrand-Prévot said in a post-race interview.
“I just wanted to go as fast as possible to the finish line, and I'm so happy we made it as a team. I want to thank my teammates because they have been amazing, and I hope that we can finish off the work tomorrow.”
Carrying the hopes of a whole nation on her shoulders, Ferrand-Prévot followed the move when Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) attacked with about 13km to go.
Having been in the early breakaway, Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease a Bike) helped their leaders with vital pulls, dropping Rooijakkers, and when Bunel was done, Ferrand-Prévot left Gigante behind with 9km to go to chase down the last remaining escapees, Fisher-Black and Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck).
She reached the two frontrunners and dropped Kastelijn 6km from the line before accelerating again just before the 5km mark to leave Fisher-Black behind and go solo for victory.
In the overall classification, Ferrand-Prévot now enjoys a lead of 2:37 minutes over Gigante, with Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) in third place 3:18 minutes behind. Last year's winner Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-Sram zondacrypto) is now in fourth place at 3:40 back.
“I just tried to go as fast as possible until the finish. It’s incredible, the team took great care of me all week, so I could save as much energy as possible. It was really a team effort. When I returned to the road, it was to participate in the Tour de France. I wanted to win it one day, and this victory today is a sign that I made the right choice and that this team is incredible. I am really very, very happy today,” said Ferrand-Prévot.
The Frenchwoman had taken an unusual route to the Tour, not racing since the Vuelta Femenina in early May.
“I knew I was doing well. But I didn’t know how I compared to the others, so it was a bit of a step into the unknown, too. In an effort of an hour, an hour and 20 or 30 minutes, you have to manage yourself well, and I can do that. I can get myself to the edge of the red zone and stay there for a long time. That’s what I tried today, and it worked,” Ferrand-Prévot explained.
“The last kilometres were so painful. I tried to enjoy it, but I also wanted to have a gap as big as possible for tomorrow. I want to thank my teammates, and I hope we can finish it off tomorrow,” she finished before stepping onto the podium to receive the maillot jaune.
The Tour de France Femmes concludes on Sunday with the stage 9 race from Praz-sur-Arly to Châtel Les Portes du Soleil.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot wears the yellow jersey at the Tour de France Femmes after her stage 8 victory (Image credit: Getty Images)
How it unfolded
Due to a puncture for Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) in the neutral zone, the 111.9km stage from Chambéry to the Col de la Madeleine about Saint-François-Longchamp started with a small delay and immediately went uphill on the first-category Col de Plainpalais.
Several attacks merged to form a breakaway of 15 riders that included polka-dot jersey Élise Chabbey, Évita Muzic (both FDJ-Suez), Kastelijn, Magdeleine Vallieres (EF Education-Oatly), Bunel, double stage winner Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ), Mareille Meijering (Movistar), Fisher-Black, her teammate Riejanne Markus, Ghekiere, Franzi Koch (Picnic PostNL), Lotte Claes (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Hannah Ludwig (Cofidis), Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health), and Ane Santesteban (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi).
They crested the climb 28 seconds ahead of the peloton, but this advantage soon increased to over three minutes, making Muzic the virtual GC leader. After an attack by Koch, Claes, and Squiban had been brought back on the unclassified Col du Frêne, the break was almost four minutes ahead while Morgane Coston (Roland Le Dévoluy) and Célia Le Mouel (Ceratizit) who had gone on the chase were reeled in by the peloton again.
The breakaway emerges over the first climb of the day on stage 8 (Image credit: Getty Images)
On the descent, yellow jersey Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) crashed when she overshot a corner, and her teammate, Gigante, also lost contact with the peloton. Green jersey Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) set a high pace on the rest of the descent, and FDJ-Suez, Visma-Lease a Bike, and EF Education-Oatly helped to keep the pressure on in the valley, but Gigante returned to the group when the road flattened.
Le Court-Pienaar came back with 47km to go, and the pace in the peloton dropped, allowing the breakaway’s advantage to go out again. Atop the Côte de Saint-Georges-d’Hurtières, the gap was 3:47 minutes, and the peloton split again on the descent as Wiebes pushed on, with Ferrand-Prévot, Le Court-Pienaar, and Gigante caught behind the split.
Visma-Lease a Bike mobilised their team to bring their GC leader back, and then Fenix-Deceuninck started chasing the breakaway, reducing the gap to the front to 1:30 minutes at the bottom of the 18.6km finishing climb.
Markus set the pace in the break, dropping more and more riders, and when the Dutchwoman was done, Fisher-Black accelerated, and only Kastelijn, Vallieres, and Muzic could follow her. Another acceleration got rid of Vallieres and Muzic, leaving only Fisher-Black and Kastelijn at the front.
Niamh Fisher Black on stage 8 at the Tour de France Femmes (Image credit: Getty Images)
Further back, Le Court-Pienaar had taken position at the front of the peloton to set the pace for Gigante, reducing the size of the group to less than a dozen riders and dropping a.o. Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), fifth in GC going into the stage.
When the yellow jersey swung off, Gigante attacked right away, and only Rooijakkers could follow her acceleration. Niewiadoma-Phinney tried to follow but had to leave a gap, and Ferrand-Prévot almost effortlessly pedalled past the Polish champion to bridge to Gigante and Rooijakkers, just before Ghekiere, having been in the breakaway, slotted in at the front of the group to pull them up the mountain.
The riders on the Col de la Madeleine on stage 8 at the Tour de France Femmes (Image credit: Getty Images)
The Belgian champion cracked Rooijakkers who dropped back and was caught by Niewiadoma-Phinney, and when Ghekiere was done, Gigante continued at a hard pace. Ferrand-Prévot briefly took over when Bunel came into sight up the road, and the young Frenchwoman reduced the gap to the front to 45 seconds with 9km to go.
Ferrand-Prévot then quickly dropped Gigante and went on for an impressive solo victory after catching and dropping Fisher-Black and Kastelijn. Vollering recovered on the second half of the climb, being brought back to Niewiadoma-Phinney and Rooijakkers by Labous, and taking 23 seconds on the Polish allrounder on the final kilometre to move onto the third podium spot.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot speaks to the press after winning stage 8 at the Tour de France Femmes (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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