The seventh stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift went to the breakaway, and incredibly, it was Maëva Squiban for UAE Team ADQ who took her second stage of this year's Tour, 24 hours after she won the sixth stage.
Squiban crossed the line 51 seconds ahead of Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly), who out-descended the group of GC favourites coming into Chambéry. Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health), who had been in the breakaway with Squiban, took third.
Most of the GC favourites rode in together, one minute behind Squiban. Yellow jersey wearer Kim Le Court-Pienaar was momentarily dropped on the Col du Granier, but was able to regain contact with her competitors before the line and keep her lead in the race. Ahead of the queen stage on Saturday, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) sits second, 26 seconds behind Le Court-Pienaar and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney remains third, 30 seconds behind.
[race_result id=15687 stage_id=85993 count=10 gc=0 year=2025]
[race_result id=15687 stage_id=85993 count=10 gc=10 year=2025]
How it happened
- The very first attack of the stage was from none other than stage 6 winner Squiban. The UAE Team ADQ rider was brought back, but slipped into another break of 17 riders that gained almost two minutes' advantage with 130 km to go. Key riders included: Chloe Dygert (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), world champion Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime), Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek), Edwards and 2024 Queen of the Mountains winner Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal).
- Unlike the stage 6 breakaway, no one in the large move was a threat to the GC riders. The closest rider to the top step was Eline Jansen of VolkerWessels at 5:40 back.
- On the Cat 2 before the Col du Granier a number of riders were dropped from the front of the race, leaving only nine riders in the breakaway. Among them, Squiban, Kopecky, Dygert, Van Anrooij, Ghekiere and Edwards held strong.
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