Maeva Squiban also triumphed on the seventh stage of the Tour de France Femmes. Only the day before she surprisingly won the sixth stage. Kimberley Le Court Pienaar keeps the yellow jersey, but showed that it is vulnerable.
A day after her greatest career success, Maeva Squiban repeated her success from the previous day: the 23-year-old French woman hung off all of her concurrents on the mountain, reached the last mountain ranking at the Col du Garnier first and drove down the approximately 17-kilometer descent in the solo. Just yesterday she had won a stage at the Tour de France Femmes for the first time, now the second. It is the third stage victory for the French since the introduction of the Tour de France Femmes 2022.
Overall classification remains similar to the previous day
The overall classification drivers do not lose time on this day. After the Col du Garnier, the top favorites Demi full ring, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, Anna van der Breggen, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Pauliena Rooijakkers fought on the departure. They crossed the finish line for a minute behind Maeva Squiban.
Four drivers within nine seconds
The drivers are also only nine seconds in the overall classification. Both Ferrand-Prévot, Niewiadoma-Phinney, full ring and van der Breggen must be trusted to win this year’s tour. Everything remains open on the last two stages.
| driver | Time |
|---|---|
1. Kimberley Le Court Pienaar | – |
2. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot | 26 seconds |
3. Kasia Niewiadoma phinney | 30 seconds |
4. Demi full ring | 31 seconds |
5. Anna van der Breggen | 35 seconds |
Kim Le Court obviously vulnerable
In the meantime it became critical of Kimberley Le Court Pienaar: on the mountain she had already lost the yellow jersey virtually. But the Mauritierin fought and conquered the lost time. Her fight paid off. In the end, the 29-year-old also retains the yellow jersey at the eighth and penultimate stage of this year. But this stage showed that Kimberley Le Court Pienaar seems to be attackable in the mountains.
Kimberley Le Court Pienaar was wearing the yellow jersey for the third time at this Tour de France Femmes
Exactions from Squiban early
The stage winner set off from the peloton eleven kilometers after the start. The early tear Maeva Squiban gave the victory the day before. However, she was out 32 kilometers before the target, not 149 kilometers before the destination like on the way to Chambéry. In an interview after her victory, Squiban said: “This morning I said to myself that I will attack from kilometers from zero. In the end it worked. It was just a great day.”
The Dutch driver Lucinda Brand followed Squiban, but the two did not take more than eight second lead to the Peloton. Five kilometers after Squiban’s first test attempt, the peloton recovered the drivers.
Previous day’s winner In 17-member top group
But Maeva Squiban could not be discouraged by the first, failed attempt. She attacked four kilometers later – like 16 other drivers. Fire from the first test attempt was also there again.
After several attacks, a first strong top group of 17 drivers formed. In addition to Squiban and Brand, the top group and the world also were the world champion Lotte Kopecky and the last year’s winner of the mountain jerseys, Justine Ghectiere. In this constellation, the drivers were able to build up a lead of 3:05 minutes after twenty kilometers.
A group of outbreaks around Mareille Meijering (m.) During the 7th stage of the Tour de France Femmes
Top group no threat to Overall classification?
Almost all drivers from the top group were not a serious danger to the overall classification drivers. Apart from Eline Jansen. The 23-year-old Dutchman from the Volkerwessels team had a gap of 5:40 minutes to the overall classification of Kimberley Le Court Pienaar. In the meantime, the top group was four and a half minutes ahead of the Peloton, which gradually became a threat to the classification drivers.
Eline Jansen (h.) At this year’s Dutch championships
At the mountain ranking for the Côte de Saint-Franc 112 kilometers in the race, the top group tore apart. Nine drivers stayed at the top, including Squiban, Kopecky and Ghiciere.
Eline Jansen meanwhile further back
In a second group, between the top group and the peloton, Eline Jansen fell back about 50 kilometers before finish. The threat to the overall classification drivers first decreased by the top group, which the race now led to a five-minute lead.
But Jansen came back to the top group at the end of the departure, about 40 kilometers before finish. The peloton tried to reduce the distance. 30 kilometers before the destination, the lead of the top group was just under two minutes.
Attack from the top group
At that time, the Dutchman Maud Rijnbeek attacked the top group and was able to settle a bit. Two kilometers later, Ruth Edwards and Mareille Meijering opened her. Other drivers followed, including Maeva Squiban.
21.5 kilometers before the destination, Squiban once again attacked in this race and shook Ruth Edwards. Only Mareille Meijering stayed on the Frenchwoman, but visibly had problems driving the pace.
The next attack by Squiban followed 2.4 kilometers before the mountain rating for the Col du Granier. This time Meijering from the Movistar team could no longer keep up. The driver from Brest drove up for the last two kilometers of the mountain in the solo and proved how much she can ride. On the following 17 kilometers she showed that she does not lose any pace on the descents.
Outlook on the eighth stage
The last two stages will claim the last forces of the other 131 drivers again. At the eighth stage on Saturday, most meters of altitude come towards the drivers: over 3,520 meters of altitude on almost 112 kilometers.
The stage in the Alps from Chambéry to Saint-François Longchamp is accordingly demanding. The race ends on the Col de la Madeleine, a classic of the Tour de France and one of the particularly difficult mountains, awarded the HC category (“Hors Catégorie” – “Outside of the category”). It goes up 18.6 kilometers here, with an average climb of 8.1 percent. This final of the penultimate stage promises to be a race for particularly strong mountainers.