Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney flew to stage seven victory and into the yellow jersey on Mont Ventoux and the Tour de France Femmes on Friday, in an historic ride.
The Canyon-SRAM rider, winner of the race in 2024, attacked with 9.1km to go on the famous mountain, and gradually built up a huge lead as race leader Marlen Reusser (Movistar) and Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) looked at each other. The pair were unable, or unwilling, to close the gap, as Niewiadoma-Phinney pressed on.
Stage seven’s winner was 1:17 behind Reusser heading into the stage, but ended the day ahead, with Vollering driving off the front in the final 500m to also take time on the yellow jersey. Niewiadoma-Phinney now leads the race, 15 seconds ahead of Vollering, with Reusser in third, a further 24 seconds behind. Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team L’IMAD) was third on the stage, ahead of Reusser.
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Despite winning the race overall two years ago, this was Niewiadoma-Phinney’s first Tour stage win, putting her in pole position with two more stages of the race to come.
Vollering could not leave behind Reusser until the closing stages, as Niewiadoma-Phinney flew away, not just holding onto her lead, but extending it on one of cycling’s most famous climbs.
How it happened
There was action before the race reached Mont Ventoux, with Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) gaining yet more points on the mountains classification, but in reality, nothing really mattered until Mont Ventoux.
The classified climb began with 15.7km to go, making the first 130km to go essentially a giant neutralised zone. Even this early on the climb, there were around just 20 riders left in the front of the race. Among those distanced early was Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike), as world champion Magdeleine Vallieres (EF Education-Oatly) and Célia Gery (FDJ United-Suez) forged off the front. The pair were soon caught, and Gery returned to setting the pace for Vollering. Just 13 riders were left in the group of favourites with 13.5km to go, with most of the leaders isolated within that.
Vollering first attacked with 10.7kn to go, splintering the front of the race. She was followed by yellow jersey Reusser and Niewiadoma-Phinney, the top three on general classification together again.
Next to attack from this group, with 9.1km to go, was Niewiadoma-Phinney, which left Vollering and Reusser looking at each other. The gap grew to 20 seconds, then to over 40 seconds, with 7.3km to go. Behind, Vollering and Reusser continued to look at each other, while further down the road, the group containing Longo Borghini, her teammate Paula Blasi, Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM) and Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) closed in.
As Niewiadoma-Phinney forged on alone, Vollering finally managed to distance Reusser inside the final 500m, putting 30 seconds into her. However, it wasn’t enough to secure yellow, which went to Niewiadoma-Phinney.
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