Pauline Ferrand-Prévot made history on Saturday when she won the eighth stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and became the first Frenchwoman to pull on the yellow jersey at the new race. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider steadily rode a brutal pace up the Col de la Madeleine to take the victory solo ahead of Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal), and Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek), who had been part of a day-long breakaway.
Behind Ferrand-Prévot, many of the other GC favourites crumbled. Gigante, who finished the stage 1:45 behind the stage winner, moved into second overall, 2:37 down. Demi Vollering, who took fourth on the stage 3:03 behind Ferrand-Prévot, will start the final stage third overall, 3:18 behind.
[race_result id=15687 stage_id=85994 count=10 gc=0 year=2025]
[race_result id=15687 stage_id=85994 count=10 gc=10 year=2025]
How it happened
- The stage started straight off with a Cat 1 climb of 13.3 km, averaging 6.3%, which meant not only were attacks flying, but riders were also dropping like flies from the back of the bunch.
- Very early in the race, a group of elite climbers emerged ahead of the bunch: Évita Muzic (FDJ-Suez), Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease a Bike), Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Decuninck), Mags Vallieres (EF Education-Oatly), Niamh Fisher-Black and Riejanne Markus (Lidl-Trek), Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal), Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health), and others. In total, the group was 14 until Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) decided to join them.
- In the peloton, Le Court-Pienaar jumped onto the front to set the pace. As she crested a climb and started to descend, she overcooked a corner and went off the road. Thankfully, she was able to get back on her bike quickly, but she had lost a minute to the peloton.
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