Two thirds of the way through the 2025 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, six riders sit within a minute of the yellow jersey. That jersey rests on the shoulders of Kim Le Court-Pienaar of AG Insurance-Soudal, and although the Mauritian rider has looked more than capable of keeping it until Sunday, the climbs of stage 6 hinted at which teams have the numerical advantage as the race heads deeper into the mountains.
On the steep ascent of the Col de la Madeleine on Saturday's stage 8, teammates will be of little help, but cycling is a team sport, as Le Court-Pienaar pointed out after her stage 5 win. In between every climb, before the fireworks really ignite, teammates can be the difference between victory and defeat. Just ask Demi Vollering.
So, although the climbs at the tail end of stage 6 weren't anything like what's to come on Saturday, they did expose which GC favourites have a buddy or more than one card to play, and which do not.
Georgie Howe
It was after the final categorised climb that some favourites found themselves either well taken care of or isolated. The climbs themselves weren't hard enough for the likes of Vollering or Pauline Ferrand-Prévot to make an attack, but they were hard enough that their teammates struggled.
Le Court-Pienaar was without question in the best position of the lot in terms of support. She was joined by not only Sarah Gigante, who sits seventh overall, 1:03 down, but also the winner of the mountains classification in 2024, Justine Ghekiere. Ghekiere was potentially the MVP of the stage as she was seen bringing Gigante back into the main bunch after the Australian was distanced on a descent.
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