Tour de France Femmes

With just one stage of the race remaining, Annemiek van Vleuten took charge of the general classification with a brilliant solo breakaway.

Vollering and Van Vleuten are 24 seconds ahead of a chasing group of seven riders, who are in turn a minute ahead of the main bunch. With a combined total of over 30 kilometres to climb today, with the first test coming 36 kilometres into the stage. Van Veluten now leads the virtual GC standings, while the current custodian of the yellow jersey is in a group over 11 minutes behind the stage leader. The group containing current Queen of the Mountains Femke Gerritse is a furtther three minutes back. Vollering took maximum QOM points over today’s first climb but it seems Van Vleuten is going to take them on the second. 5km to go: Annemiek van Vleuten has completed the final climb of the day and has about 1.5km of descent before the course plateaus towards the finish. 8km to go: Alone in front since the second big climb of the day, Annemiek van Vleuten keeps pedalling towards the summit of the final one. It’s 1,344m high, 13.5km in length and has a gradient of 6.7%. She need not concern herself with that for the moment, as the climb doesn’t begin for another 34 kilometres. 16km to go: Annemiek Van Vleuten picks up three bonus seconds as the first rider through the ... um, bonus seconds section. The Italian is now only 40 seconds ahead of the six-strong Katarzyna Niewiadoma group. Her compatriot Silvio Persico has been shelled out the back of that group but is fighting valiantly to re-attach herself. Over the team radio, her directeur sportif tells her she has nothing to lose and should go for third place on the stage.

What has Marianne Vos got in the peaks? If the Dutchwoman has been doing some secret mountain camps, we'll find out on Stage 7.

An inclinometer feature will be introduced, a 3D representation bringing to life the gradients faced by the peloton. The Col has a short passage around its peak before a lengthy descent and then thankfully comes some chill time. The peloton will tackle three peaks on the penultimate stage, starting with the misleadingly named Petit Ballon: 9.3km of 8.1% followed by a steep descent.

ASO has been using the Tour de France Femmes as a testing ground for broadcasting teams' radio chatter.

“Of course, there can be tactical discussions in the car and that is something we want to keep for ourselves,” he said. It’s always good to see from the outside what is happening in the race. That’s the trust that you need to give them, but until now there has been nothing strange.” There has been a loose agreement between the ASO and teams that tactical discussions will not be broadcast. In Formula One, a large amount of the team radio is broadcast during the race with a small timing delay. “We have not been coached for the radio yet. It doesn’t mean that teams who are not being broadcast on television rejected the idea. “It’s an interesting step because it’s also giving the viewers an insight into the race,” EF Education-Tibco-SVB sport director Daniel Foder told VeloNews. “For me, it’s not something that I’m thinking about. Sport directors are still getting used to the idea that their comments are being broadcast, but all those that VeloNews spoke to thought it was a good thing. We asked the riders about the first big day of climbing The Tour de France Femmes has seen something new being tested with team radio being broadcast during the stage. Upon cancellation, you will have access to your membership through the end of your paid year.

Dutchwoman recovers from sickness to blow competition away with long-range rampage in the mountains. - Vollering gets closest but still loses three minutes ...

Van Vleuten, in a race of her own, enters the final kilometre and prepares to celebrate. Van Vleuten is heading downhill and the gap back to Vollering has now stabilised. The gaps stabilised on that descent, with Vollering at 1:20, Longo Borghini at 5:30, and the Niewiadoma group at 6:30. The Niewiadoma chase group is closing in on Longo Borghini on the plateau. Anna van der Breggen in the SD Worx team car tells Vollering she's gaining on Van Vleuten on the downhills. Van Vleuten is pressing on with this attack before the descent starts, taking her lead to 45 seconds on Vollering who is now the only other contender in this stage. Double-digit gradients here and Van Vleuten is ripping out of the saddle. She dropped Van Vleuten on the previous one. All other riders in the race are bleeding more and more time to this leading duo. She dropped Van Vleuten on the descent. With Moolman-Pasio out of the frame, Vollering is SD Worx's leader and she's doing a great ride so far. Van Dijk is the second best-placed rider on GC in this move.

NBC Sports will provide coverage of the 2022 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift for viewers in the United States. All eight stages will stream on Peacock.

Lorena Wiebes (NED) Lorena Wiebes (NED) After 1989, event organizers decided to drop the women’s event from the Tour de France program. The event was organized by the Société du Tour de France, which later became part of the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO). - 1985-1989: The women’s Tour de France continued to be held alongside the men’s race. Here’s an abridged history of previous Women’s Tour de France attempts.

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ Suez Futuroscope) won a three-woman sprint for third, 5:16 behind. Juliette Labous (Team DSM) and Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM ...

“I have a lot of capacity and then it comes down to fitness, and that is something I am really good in. It is a beautiful extra present of this beautiful victory.” She jumped up seven places to first overall and will begin Sunday’s final stage well clear of the rest. I am a little bit older than the other girls so I can do a lot of training, so this stage was really suited to me.” “I was so sick, and then to win here like this is unbelievable. “For sure I had to try it, because I was behind.

The Dutch rider overcame a stomach bug to take the yellow jersey, with a solo break on the gruelling mountain stage leaving her in a strong position.

I was really in a bad situation.” Her rivals may now wish that they had tried to lose Van Vleuten earlier in the week, when she was at her most vulnerable, particularly on the gruelling gravel roads of the Aube. “Monday and Tuesday, given her state of health, we didn’t push things,” her teammate Aude Biannic said. “I couldn’t believe this was possible after being so sick,” she said. “I want to make something clear. That means going on the first climb.” Van Vleuten, riding for Movistar and winner of the women’s Giro d’Italia, started the Tour as the hot favourite, but suffered through a stomach bug that enforced a mid-race toilet stop and almost made her quit.

Dutchwoman finishes over three minutes clear of nearest rival Demi Vollering, siezes control ahead of race ahead of final stage summit finish.

25 25 6 6 Uttrup Ludwig won the sprint for third, 5:16 behind, with Labous and Niewiadoma a further two seconds in arrears. Vollering contined riding hard and crossed the line 3:26 back, while behind the three chasers finally started working together after Niewiadoma’s strong efforts, swapping turns to reduce their deficit somewhat. She had started the day eighth, 1:28 behind Vos, who was far back and clearly out of the yellow jersey. The latter had started the day sixth overall and became the virtual race leader. However she was dropped early on and would ultimately withdraw. This last climb also included a bonus section at km 110.5. The summit of the Grand Ballon was followed by a downhill/flat 7.5km to the finish line. She jumped up seven places to first overall and will begin Sunday’s final stage well clear of the rest. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ Suez Futuroscope) won a three-woman sprint for third, 5:16 behind.

Stage 7's triple-header of climbs offered Urška Žigart (BikeExchange-Jayco) a rare opportunity to show off her climbing prowess after often struggling in ...

"Of course, that's why I came here to the Tour, for these last two days of big climbs," she said. "I need to keep working on that, but today is a good motivation that I'm on the right track," she said. So I need to keep working on that because I showed today that I could be up there, but nobody can win from last place."

The Movistar rider destroyed her rivals on the first mountain stage of the Tour de France Femmes.

I said that it was maybe a bit hyped, but I was more meaning that first, we should put out an interesting show and that next it will be even more important.” “It’s exceeding my expectations, the Tour de France Femmes. Especially it’s exceeding on how it’s organized. The inaugural Tour de France Femmes is almost done and dusted with the final stage Sunday set to crown the winner. “There was a long valley and Demi didn’t want to take turns with me so I really wanted to drop her before I was in that 15km valley because she would just sit in my wheel and then it would be way harder to drop her on the last climb. Especially also I could enjoy the audience more, but it was also a tactical point of view,” she said. Van Vleuten lost time on stages 2 and 3 as she struggled to deal with the stomach issue she’d had since shortly after the opening stage.

After illness comes domination. Annemiek van Vleuten has comeback to form... fine form – fantastic form... winning form!

The Dutch domination of the inaugural TDFF continues in stage seven. The gastro issues may have slowed the Movistar rider on flat and undulating terrain, but in the mountains she started to fly again. Annemiek van Vleuten was the absolute pre-race favourite and not even the illness that hindered her in the opening days could slow her down when the Tour reached the kind of terrain on which she thrives.

Six riders miss time cut after Annemiek van Vleuten splinters field with early attack, five abandon and two don't start.

The abandon of Wiebes and failure of Koch to make it within the time cut means Labous has just Liane Lippert and Georgi Pfeiffer for support in the crucial final stage. Even the top climbers in the peloton, however, couldn’t help but shed chunks of time to Van Vleuten, who finished in 3:47:02. Only eight other riders on the stage managed to come over the line within ten minutes of the new race leader. Then there were the riders who tortured their bodies to make it to the end as fast as they could, but to no avail. They included Anne van Rooijen and Nicole Frain of Parkhotel Valkenburg, who the team said could not finish due to their injuries, while Gladys Verhulst (Le-Col Wahoo) also failed to make it to the end. There were 13 riders who stepped out of the Tour de France Femmes on the day of the 127.1km stage to Le Markstein Fellering, which included three category one climbs. “For me it was a real suffer day, I didn’t make it through today so that is the end of my Tour,” said Australian champion Frain in an interview with broadcaster SBS (opens in new tab). “There were big time gaps … so it shows how hard the day actually was.

Kasia Niewiadoma's thoughtful and thorough preparation is paying dividends at Tour de France Femmes · The Canyon-SRAM rider maintains her third place position ...

On the climbs that are 30 minutes plus I’ve learned in my body that I just need to stay consistent otherwise I just cannot recover. “So when I saw Longo Borghini going on her own I knew it would be a difficult day for her.” “I was basically riding the last climb thinking about the third place in GC, I wasn’t focusing too much on who’s riding or who doesn’t want to ride because that wasn’t helping me,” she said.