It was an absolute thriller of a finale for the third edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift as the expected duel for yellow between Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma came down to seconds on the Alpe d’Huez.
Vollering went on the attack on the hors-catégorie Col du Glandon 55 km from the finish, and only Pauliena Rooijakkers (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was able to follow, setting off sirens in the Canyon-SRAM camp. The Dutch duo stayed away to the finish and at one point held the virtual race lead, but Niewiadoma put in the ride of her life to defend the yellow jersey on the descent, the valley road, and the iconic Alpe d’Huez to take a historic overall victory by just four seconds.
- After 20 km of fearsome attacking, a group of 23 riders had found about a minute’s lead over the bunch, including four riders from SD Worx-Protime, leaving only Niamh Fisher-Black to support Demi Vollering in the peloton, where Canyon-SRAM kept a full complement of riders around race leader Kasia Niewiadoma.
- QOM Justine Ghekiere was also among those on the attack for the third day in a row. She’d already got the stage win neatly stashed in her hurriedly packed suitcase, but with a maximum of 35 points on offer, there were still six riders mathematically able to threaten her QOM jersey. One of them also made the breakaway in Silvia Persico – fourth in the standings with 28 points to make up – but the remote possibility of taking over the competition evidently did not tempt the Italian, and Ghekiere was uncontested at the first cat.2 climb where she extended her lead to 21 points clear of next-best Puck Pieterse.
- There was a lull in the flat run-up to the Col du Glandon as the whole race drew breath, then the breakaway finally arrived with just 90 seconds’ lead.
- Riders started dropping away from the lead group immediately as FDJ-Suez set the pace in the peloton behind.
- After barely five kilometres of climbing, Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek) attacked her dwindling breakaway companions and effectively reduced the group to the seven freshest riders: Brand, Loes Adegeest (FDJ-Suez), Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco), Alice Maria Arzuffi (Ceratizit-WNT), Liane Lippert (Movistar), Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ) and Katrine Aalerud (Uno-X Mobility) – Ghekiere couldn’t hold the wheel after such a busy few days, but only a spectacle from Pieterse could strip her of polka dots; so, job done.
- None of the four SD Worx riders made the cut, and instead set their minds to recovering as much as possible in the hope that they could help their leader after the hors-catégorie peak – they’d have their work cut out though with about 15 brutal kilometres to the top.
- Mavi García (Liv AlUla Jayco) attempted to break clear of the peloton on the lower slopes of the HC climb, but the only move that could stick came from Arkéa-B&B Hotels rider Valentina Cavallar, who made short work of climbing through the dropped breakaway riders and up to the leaders. The former rower didn’t wait around before going solo, none of the early attackers able to respond.
- The pace and attritional gradients had done serious damage to the peloton which was down to less than 15 riders with more than five kilometres left of the Col du Glandon, Juliette Labous (DSM-firmenich PostNL) one of the biggest names to fall away on the violent slopes. With most of their rivals isolated, Niamh Fisher-Black, last rider standing for Vollering, lifted the pace for her leader as the hardest ramps beckoned.
- Cavallar meanwhile extended her gap to about 20 seconds over the yellow jersey group as riders grovelled all over the mountain.
- The expected hit came about 2,500 metres from the summit when Vollering accelerated hard into Cavallar’s slim advantage.
- Niewiadoma was quick to respond, but as Vollering kept the pressure on, the yellow jersey lost the wheel, leaving space open for Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) – seventh on GC and two seconds ahead of Vollering – to slot onto the defending champion’s wheel.
- The gap opened up in front of Niewiadoma as Vollering pushed on, as a little behind, Pieterse was really struggling, already losing touch when Vollering made her move.
- Vollering and Rooijakkers soon joined Cavallar who, through pure grit and determination, stuck with the GC riders all the way to the summit, at which point they’d stretched out just shy of a minute over the yellow jersey group.
- Niewiadoma was out of teammates, Neve Bradbury dropped a few kilometres before Vollering made her move, but both Brand and Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) were motivated, as was Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Évita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) who was not far from home. French hero and stage 6 winner Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT) was also not far off and would re-join them on the descent, hoping to defend her strong GC position.
- The fog cleared almost as soon as the leaders tipped over the crest, in fresh jackets, and Vollering scorched down the sweeping turns towards the valley, putting pressure on her companions, Cavallar in particular.
- By the foot of the super-fast descent, Rooijakkers stayed within a few seconds of Vollering who she joined for the valley roads, as Cavallar dropped back to the yellow jersey group now about 1:20 down. Pieterse, meanwhile, was chasing about three minutes behind the leaders.
- The valley roads were a chance to refuel, reassess, regather, and then to maintain the gap, or in the yellow jersey group, to put the hammer down and bring the leaders closer before the final climb.
- Largely thanks to Lucinda Brand, the gap got a beating on the run-in to the Alpe d’Huez, putting Niewiadoma back into the virtual lead, as up ahead, Vollering and Rooijakkers argued over work rate.
- Vollering and Rooijakkers led the way onto the infamous climb with a 45-second advantage over the yellow jersey group, and on the lower slopes, the seconds continued to trickle out of the gap as Niewiadoma, Realini and Muzic pushed hard and left their companions behind.
- However, after the first kilometre or so, the gap began to stretch a little again, reaching 70 seconds at 10 km to go as Niewiadoma shared the work with Muzic and Realini – Niewiadoma still keeping hold of the virtual lead, but only by a few seconds.
- At the front, it was a matter of waiting to see who would punch first, a high-stakes game of chicken.
- But it never really happened. It was a standoff between the Dutch pair hovering about a minute up ahead and Niewiadoma who had the ride of her life in defending yellow.
- With three kilometres to go, the gap was down to 47 seconds, and then it went up again by three or four more. It was touch and go all the way to the line.
- After such a long day, Vollering had to wait until the final kilometre to make her move at a Tour de France that would now be won by seconds, not minutes. She sprinted and sprinted hard, only easing up as she hit the line and threw her arms wide to celebrate her second stage win.
- But Niewiadoma was charging under the flamme rouge less than a minute behind. Muzic rallied to take the remaining bonus seconds with third place, but the yellow jersey did it. She held on. She won the Tour de France atop the Alpe d’Huez by mere seconds.
- Vollering’s stage win afforded her second overall, just four seconds behind Niewiadoma, and Rooijakkers climbed to second, all three of the podium finishers within ten seconds. Muzic was the best French finisher in fourth.
- In the other classifications, despite falling out of the overall top 10, Puck Pieterse held onto the white jersey, as Marianne Vos and Justine Ghekiere defended the points and mountains classifications.
Stage 8 top 10:
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Final GC top 10:
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Quote of the day
It was a big fight against myself on Alpe d’Huez.”
Vollering said after the podium ceremonies, speaking through emotions.
This stage was a rollercoaster. I lost my confidence when I wasn’t able to follow Vollering on the Glandon. I was very bad at that moment, mentally and physically. I’ve eaten everything I had in my pockets and said: I’m ready again!”
Niewiadoma said after stage 8.
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