Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won an emotional Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift stage nine win to seal historic the overall victory.
The Visma–Lease a Bike rider powered home in a sensational win to become the first French winner of the men’s or women’s Tours since Jeannie Longo.
The 33-year-old rode solo ahead of 2023 champion Demi Vollering (FDJ–Suez) and Canyon–SRAM zondacrypto’s Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney who rounded out the podium
Ferrand-Prévot resets the nation’s long wait for a victor at their home race and did so in sensational fashion with a second stage win.
Vollering and Niewiadoma-Phinney rounded off the General Classification podium after a difficult day on the bike saw Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance–Soudal) be dropped, ending her hopes of ending the race in second.
But it was day all about Ferrand-Prévot who earned the opportunity to carve her name into history after Saturday’s race flipped the GC on its head.
After a nightmare day for former maillot de jaune Kim Le Court (AG Insurance–Soudal) as she suffered a major crash on Stage 8, she lost her grasp on the yellow jersey and moved into eleventh overall, leaving Ferrand-Prévot with the nation’s hopes on her shoulders.
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On the ninth stage of the ever-growing event, the riders faced 124km of a different style of mountain stage, with a massive 11.6km climb at the mid point in the race, before another technical ascent and a final battle to Châtel on the French-Swiss border.
How it happened
From the outset, it was a sensational battle in the finale, as Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) went out hard in her bid for the green jersey, entering the day with a 30-point lead over Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) and 25 points on offer in Morillon.
Wiebes’ effort was short-lived, but it was a rapid start to racing. A steep 7km descent broke up the field as SD Worx-Protime’s Anna van der Breggen and Femke Gerritse shot off, creating a 15-second gap from the peloton, and were quickly joined by Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek) and world champion teammate Lotte Kopecky.
With 100km to go and at the base of the climb, the peloton had reeled in the leading quartet, but the intact peloton barely lasted a kilometre as Van der Breggen went off with her third attack of the day.
She dropped the group with Ferrand-Prévot and quickly built up around a half a minute gap over the field, with the white and green jersey riders around a minute behind that.
The Dutch rider’s dominance continued through to the summit of the climb, building her advantage to around 55 seconds ahead of the yellow jersey group, and clinching 10 points in the Queen of the Mountains classification.
With 73km remaining, the fractured peloton reformed 90 seconds behind Van der Breggen, with the group containing Wiebes managing to bridge with the yellow jersey group.
It was in the nick of time, too, as Wiebes worked her way to the front for the intermediate sprint to add another 20 points to her green jersey tally, with Van der Breggen claiming the full points now over 2 minutes ahead.
Van der Breggen entered the foot of the monster Col de Joux Plane with an advantage of 100 seconds, but it was a fierce 11.6km ascent at 8.5% ahead and a charging peloton behind.
GC podium contenders Cedrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) suffered under the pace and went down on a sharp corner at the base of the Joux Plane, putting them under pressure to come back after losing over 30 seconds on the pack.
From there, the yellow jersey group split, with the difficulty of the climb evident. An attack from Gigante splintered the chasing group, with Ferrand-Prévot, Vollering, Niewiadoma-Phinney, and Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl–Trek) stuck on the Aussie’s back wheel in a bid to catch Van der Breggen.
Injections in pace by Vollering and Ferrand-Prévot kept the splinter group in touch, and by the summit, they were only 48 seconds in arrears.
But after a monstrous climb up the Joux Plane, a technically challenging descent followed, which saw GC contender Gigante be distanced after struggling with the pace.
With less than 50km to go, the chasing yellow jersey group continued their hunt for Van der Breggen, reining her in to under 40 seconds.
At the base of the third climb, the chasers edged closer, with only 15 seconds between them at the front of the race. But as they drew closer, Gigante was dropped even further, sitting at over 2 minutes behind and her podium hopes firmly at risk.
It was not long before the six-rider yellow jersey group, including Niewiadoma-Phinney, Vollering, Juliette Labous (FDJ–Suez), Fisher-Black, and Dominika Wlodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ) bridged the gap to Van der Breggen, who, after a long day on her own, was unable to respond, quickly dropping to over a minute behind.
The group were now invigorated at the front of the race, with the knowledge of a potential stage win on the cards, and more importantly, the opportunity of a podium after Gigante was dropped and Kerbaol sat at almost five minutes in arrears following her crash earlier in the race.
At the summit, Vollering claimed the maximum 10 points, ahead of a winding and difficult descent which allowed the six riders to put further time into Gigante, who at 15km to go was three minutes behind.
It was a nervy build-up in the final moments of the race, but the hammer finally dropped with 7km to go as Vollering launched a fierce attack, and Labous was the first to crack.
Despite Vollering’s bold move, the remaining five dug deep and reeled her back in. But when no one expected it, Ferrand-Prévot went all out in an iconic way, as the French woman opened the gap to 12 seconds over the next 2 kilometres and with a nation willing her on.
The maillot de jaune rode up the valley climb, without a meaningful response from the Vollering-led group, who trailed by over 20 seconds with less than a kilometre remaining.
Ferrand-Prévot rode solo to victory ahead of Vollering and Niewiadoma-Phinney to take the emotional win on Stage 9, welcomed with the raucous cheers of a nation full of pride.
Tour de France Femmes stage nine: Praz-Sur-Arly > Châtel (124.1KM)
1. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 3:38:23
2. Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ-SUEZ +20s
3. Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol) Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto +23s
4. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZl) Lidl-Trek +23s
5. Dominika Włodarczyk (Pol) UAE Team ADQ +33s Yara Kastelijn (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, at same time
6. Juliette Labous (Fra) FDJ-SUEZ +1:49
7. Sarah Gigante (Aus) AG Insurance-Soudal +3:53
8. Cédrine Kerbaol (Fra) EF Education-Oatly +9:22
9. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck +9:23
10. Nadia Gontova (Can) Winspace Orange Seal +9:42
Tour de France Femmes general classification after stage 9
1. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 29:54:24
2. Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ-SUEZ, + 3:42
3. Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol) Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto, +4:09
4. Dominika Włodarczyk (Pol) UAE Team ADQ +5:45
5. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZl) Lidl-Trek +6:25
6. Sarah Gigante (Aus) AG Insurance-Soudal +6:40
7. Juliette Labous (Fra) FDJ-SUEZ +9:13
8. Cédrine Kerbaol (Fra) EF Education-Oatly, +13:43
9. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, +13:59
10. Evita Muzic (Fra) FDJ-SUEZ, +15:50
