An early test and an excellent departure gave the French woman Maeva Squiban her first stage victory at the Tour de France Femmes. Kimberley Le Court Pienaar remains the first in the overall classification and thus retains the yellow jersey.
Maeva Squiban had already loosened 29 kilometers from the peloton before the last mountain ranking. The French woman from Brest, where the Tour de France Femmes started this year, played for the overall classification. Over nine and a half minutes she was missing for the first, Kimberley Le Court Pienaar.
Peloton had squiban pulled
The driver had the driver pulled out of the UAE Team ADQ – and thus missed the chance of winning a stage for the overall classification drivers.
Squiban built up a distance of over a minute and solidified her lead on the twelve -kilometer descent. She showed her skills that she can take curves and did not lose time when things went uphill a few kilometers.
Finally, Squiban’s early test was sufficient for the stage victory. No other driver in sight on the last few meters. With a 1:22 minute lead to the main field, Maeva Squiban secured her first stage victory at the Tour de France Femmes.
Attempts at first outdoor trials
As on the previous days, outliers had a hard time at the beginning of the race. This was the only chance of winning this demanding stage for some drivers: Only if they flee far enough from the overall classification drivers would they have real chances.
Therefore, there were always tests from the start, but the drivers could not stop at the front. Lorena Wiebes also tried to settle up with four other drivers eight kilometers after start – presumably to secure the sprint rating after 30 kilometers. However, she and the outlier group could not detach themselves from the field.
The Peloton of the Tour de France Femmes during the 6th stage
20-member top group
Six kilometers before the intermediate sprint, the Swiss Linda Zanetti was able to break away from the UNO-X-Mobility team, and other drivers took up the persecution. After 36 racing kilometers, a top 20 group formed, including with the German driver Liane Lippert. Twenty kilometers later there were 12 drivers in the top group.
After 59 kilometers, Lorena Wiebes, who won the third and fourth stage, fell back from the main field and drove almost two minutes behind the peloton. About four kilometers later, the Dutch was able to catch up to the Peloton again, but fell back when the official climb to the Col du Béal began, the mountain of category one climbed over ten kilometers. The mountains split the peloton into several groups.
Elise Chabbey retains mountain jersey
The first mounting stage promised many points for the drivers. A single driver could have got a maximum of 21 mountain points. Elise Chabbey had been wearing the dotted jersey since the second stage and had a five -point lead with 11 mountain points before the start of the stage.
Elise Chabbey has been driving in the dotted jersey since the second stage
She further expanded this lead. At every mountain ranking she collected a few points, if not all the first. The Swiss got a total of 18 points. Chabbey was part of the 20-member top group in the meantime and thus in the front in the race.