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Escape Collective’s Abby Mickey wrote before Sunday’s final stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift that the race was far from over; that there was still plenty to play for on Sunday. She was certainly right about that.
On a mighty final stage, finishing atop Alpe d’Huez, we got to witness a truly breathtaking battle. The defending champion, Demi Vollering, up the road, trying to find enough time to claw back yellow. Behind her: overall leader Kasia Niewiadoma, fighting doggedly with everything she had to hold on to the maillot jaune.
It wasn’t clear who’d won the Tour until a few minutes after Niewiadoma crossed the line exhausted. And even then, it was close. Just four seconds separated Niewiadoma and Vollering in the closest finish ever in Tour history (men’s or women’s), with Niewiadoma taking the biggest win of her career.
As the dust settles on an incredible edition of the Tour de France Femmes, let’s conclude our series of photo galleries from the race. We pick up the action on the morning of stage 7, with two stages in the Alps remaining. The images you see below come courtesy of Jered and Ashley Gruber, with a few from the Cor Vos photo agency.
Niewiadoma came into the Tour’s two mountain stages with a 16-second lead over her closest rival (stage 6 winner Cédrine Kerbaol). Vollering was in 10th, 1:19 down.Marianne Vos, the greatest of all time, was on a mission on stage 7: she wanted to get up the road to secure the sprint points, to ensure she’d win a second green jersey at the Tour.Even at the business end of the biggest race of the year, the former teammates had time for a laugh.Stage 7 left Champagnole, headed for Le Grand-Bornand.Great crowds have been a feature of this race, again.Ruth Edwards was part of a six-rider break that led for much of the day …… with Julie Van de Velde (left) and QOM leader Justine Ghekiere also up the road.As planned, Vos was up the road too (left) …… so too was Sarah Roy (back, second from left) and Sara Martín from Movistar.The break would be thinned to teammates Van de Velde and Ghekiere, plus Vos and Martín, with 15 km to go …… before Ghekiere made her move with 13 km to go.The 28-year-old Belgian rode to the biggest win of her career, further cementing her lead in the QOM classification.Behind, Niewiadoma and Vollering traded blows, each looking to crack the other ahead of the final-stage showdown on Alpe d’Huez. After an aggressive ride from Niewiadoma, Vollering got the jump on the Polish rider to finish third, snagging four bonus seconds.A strong ride from Puck Pieterse kept her in second overall, and in the white jersey of best young rider.The eighth and final stage began at Le Grand-Bornand and took the riders to Alpe d’Huez.The real challenge would come in the second half of the stage, with the Col du Glandon and Alpe d’Huez climbs more or less back to back.A big break of 22 riders got up the road, with many teams trying to get a rider in position to help their GC leader later on.Ultimately, the break would be swept up early, and on the Col du Glandon, Vollering made her move. She dragged Pauliena Rooijakkers (right) with her, with the duo then catching Valentina Cavallar (left).Behind, Niewiadoma was forced to chase, to limit her losses.Cédrine Kerbaol was tenacious, the stage 6 winner once again confirming her talent at the biggest race in the world.By the time Vollering and Rooijakkers were on Alpe d’Huez, they’d shed Cavallar.Niewiadoma would have to do most of the work in the chase group on the iconic climb, as Vollering pushed on ahead.Gaia Realini and Evita Muzic were the strongest of the other GC contenders.Up ahead it was Vollering doing the work …… and behind, Niewiadoma was doing the same, trying to hold onto yellow.It was a wonderfully gutsy ride from Niewiadoma …… whose partner Taylor Phinney (a former pro himself) was on hand to support her, even if the gendarmerie weren’t too impressed.Vollering cracked Rooijakkers right at the end to win the stage …… rounding out a tough week in which she crashed heavily on stage 5 and lost a bunch of time. But perhaps the toughest moment was to come.Niewiadoma pushed all the way to the line, finishing fourth on the stage (behind Vollering, Rooijakkers, and Muzic) …… before an agonizing wait to see if she’d done enough to win the race overall.When her victory was confirmed, the emotion was plain to see.After two third-place finishes in the Tour, and after a career almost defined by near-misses, Niewiadoma had won on the biggest stage.QOM jersey secured for Ghekiere, and the green jersey for Vos.The heartbreak of defeat and the joy of victory. How good is sport?The final classification winners at the 2024 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. From left: Puck Pieterse (best young rider), Justine Ghekiere (QOM), Kasia Niewiadoma (overall winner), and Marianne Vos (points classification).And the final GC: Vollering (second), Niewiadoma, and Rooijakkers (third). What a race.
