Maëva Squiban took the biggest victory of her career so far on Thursday when she won the sixth stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. The 23-year-old salvaged the Tour for UAE Team ADQ, who were down to only four riders halfway through the race. Squiban attacked with 32 km to go and soloed to victory as the chasing group of favourites looked at each other.
Juliette Labous (FDJ-Suez), who attacked in the final 10 km, took second on the stage 1:09 behind Squiban. Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) led the chasing group across the line a further 14 seconds down.
Le Court-Pienaar held onto her lead in the race with three stages remaining. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) holds second, 26 seconds down, and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) jumped over FDJ-Suez's Demi Vollering to move into third, 30 seconds down.
[race_result id=15687 stage_id=85992 count=10 gc=0 year=2025]
[race_result id=15687 stage_id=85992 count=10 gc=10 year=2025]
How it happened
- After the breakaway failed again to stay away to the finish of stage 5, teams and riders saw stage 6 as an opportunity for a move to go to the line. As such, the fight for the break was relentless. With 86 km to go, just after the intermediate sprint won by Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez), a group of 20 riders found themselves with a 35-second advantage on the peloton.
- The highest-placed rider in the breakaway was Chabbey, teammate of Vollering, 1:19 back. The next highest-placed rider was Lily Williams of Human Powered Health, 7:20 back, so definitely not a threat.
- Over the Cat 3 climbs in the first 50 km of the stage, multiple riders were dropped from the front group. When the break reached the base of the Col du Béal, the break was down to 12 riders with a 45-second advantage on the peloton.
- The main instigator in the breakaway was Brodie Chapman of UAE Team ADQ, who was also in the breakaway during the fifth stage. The former Australian road champion was clearly eager to keep the break moving, but on the Cat 1 climb, the gap dropped rapidly, with AG Insurance-Soudal pacing on the front of the peloton.
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