After nine epic stages of racing, Demi Vollering has won the Tour de France Femmes for the second time in her career, making history as the first rider to win two editions of the race.
The FDJ United-SUEZ rider sealed the overall victory by winning the final stage around Nice, as she dropped her main general classification rival Kasia Niewiadoma on the last ascent of the Col d’Èze with 16km to go, before going solo to the finish on the Promenade des Anglais.
“I’ve never won in the yellow jersey before,” Vollering said in her post-race interview. “It’s incredible the people I have around me. It’s not only the dream to win in yellow here and win a second Tour de France, but it’s the dream to live this life and work hard together with people with a lot of passion, I think that’s the whole dream.”
After her triumph atop Mont Ventoux two days prior, Niewiadoma tried everything to snatch back the yellow jersey on the final stage after her Canyon-SRAM team had attempted to put the Vollering under pressure throughout the day. However, the Polish rider was simply unable to match the strength of her rival on the final climb and was ultimately forced to settle for second place in the general classification.
After some controversy on stage 8 surrounding a blocking move by Vollering’s teammate Célia Gery on Niewiadoma before the final climb and subsequent comments about the incident, the Dutchwoman was keen to make a demonstration on the final stage and show that she was the strongest rider in the race.
“I had to try to attack and go alone,” she stated. “I wanted to make it clear that we didn’t win because of an incident yesterday. That’s not what I believe and I wanted to make it clear that we as a team deserve to win a beautiful Tour de France Femmes with humility and pride.”
In the battle for the final spot on the podium, a nasty crash for Marlen Reusser with 60km to go saw the Movistar rider fall off the podium and out of the top ten entirely, as she finished more than twenty-four minutes behind Vollering on the stage, which handed third place to Elisa Longo Borghini.
Meanwhile, Niewiadoma’s teammate Antonia Niedermaier finished fourth overall and won the white jersey as the best young rider, whilst Lorena Wiebes won the intermediate sprint on the final stage to secure the green jersey and Puck Pieterse finished the race safely to win the polka dot jersey.
How It Happened
At 99.2km in length, the final stage of this year’s Tour de France Femmes was the shortest road stage of the race. Centred around Nice, the riders took on four ascents of the Col d’Èze before a descent to the finish along the Promenade des Anglais.
They were climbing right from the start, as the first ascent of the Col d’Èze (7.7km at 5.9%) began straight out of the neutral zone. UAE Team L’IMAD were interested in getting a rider up the road early in the stage, with attacks from Dominika Włodarczyk and Maëva Squiban on the opening climb.
However, the pace being set by the teams at the head of the peloton meant that each move was brought back quickly, whilst several riders were being dropped out the back, as fatigue from the previous eight stages was beginning to set in.
On the descent, a misjudged corner for Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM) saw her hit the deck, but the British national champion was back on her bike quickly and able to chase back on to the leading group. Franziska Koch (FDJ United-SUEZ) was the only other rider affected by the crash, but she just about managed to keep herself upright.
As they came off the descent and re-entered Nice, Malwina Mul (Cofidis) and Paula Ostiz (Movistar) formed a two-rider breakaway at the head of the race, with the former taking maximum points at the intermediate sprint, whilst Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) took third place to mathematically secure the green jersey.
It wasn’t long after that the leading duo were caught as they went onto the second ascent of the Col d’Èze, as Zoe Bäckstedt had recovered from her earlier crash and went to the front to set the pace for her team leader Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM).
An incredible ride from the British national champion saw her whittle down the leading group, dropping riders such as Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal), Évita Muzic (FDJ United-SUEZ), Magdeleine Vallieres (EF Education-Oatly) and Célia Gery (FDJ United-SUEZ), before Marlen Reusser (Movistar) was then distanced with 1.7km to go on the climb and her position on the podium was put into jeopardy.
A gap of nearly a minute had opened up to the Swiss rider as they went onto the descent, before disaster then struck, as Reusser crashed hard through a right-hand corner. Fortunately, she was able to get back on her bike and finish the race, though she would ultimately lose nearly twenty-five minutes and fall out of the top ten entirely.
The first moves from the lead group came on the third ascent of the Col d’Èze, with Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) putting in a small acceleration, before Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) went on the attack with 46km to go.
After nearly being taken out by a spectator dressed as a panda as she launched her move, the Canadian rider quickly settled into her rhythm and began to establish an advantage over the group behind, which was being led by Juliette Berthet (FDJ United-SUEZ) in service of her team leader Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ), as the French rider was the only remaining teammate for the yellow jersey.
As she went over the top of the climb, Holmgren had more than a minute of an advantage over the yellow jersey group, but then gradually lost time on the descent as Berthet continued to lead the chase behind, and as she went onto the final climb her lead had been cut to half a minute.
The final ascent of the Col d’Èze (6km at 7.6%) was different to the previous three ascents, as it took the riders a shorter but steeper route up the climb, with the Col des Quatre Chemins forming the first part, with gradients of over twelve percent, before a right turn to rejoin the road to the summit.
It was clear that the battle for the stage win and the overall victory would be decided here, and Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM) immediately went to the front to set up a move for Niewiadoma.
Meanwhile, the gap to Holmgren had continued to shrink and she was ultimately caught with 4km to go on the climb. It was at this moment that Niewiadoma decided to launch her move to drop Vollering with a punchy attack.
However, the yellow jersey stayed glued to her wheel, matching each acceleration with relative ease as she remained seated in her saddle, before launching an attack of her own with 3km left on the climb.
With both riders trading blows but neither able to drop the other, they continued to stamp their way up the climb, but as they made the right turn back on to the circuit from the previous laps, it looked as though the two could not be separated.
However, with only a few hundred metres left to go on the climb, Vollering made one final move with an initial acceleration out of the saddle before settling into a high-cadence seated effort that finally cracked Niewiadoma.
As the Polish rider sat back in her saddle a small gap began to open up, and with a quick look around, Vollering pounced on the opportunity with another attack out of the saddle. As the gradient began to flatten out, the Dutch rider now had the upper hand and began to time trial her way along the plateau before the beginning of the descent.
Meanwhile, it was clear that Niewiadoma was suffering and her yellow jersey ambitions were quickly fading away, with the once small gap quickly becoming a chasm, as she did not have the power to match Vollering.
She was then joined on the descent by the chasing group containing Niedermaier and Holmgren, as well as Paula Blasi (UAE Team L’IMAD), Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) and Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team L’IMAD), the last of whom was now on to finish third overall after Reusser’s misfortune earlier in the stage.
It was now evident that Vollering would not be caught, as she once again proved to be a level above her competitors. As she came off the final descent into Nice and rolled onto the Promenade des Anglais, she celebrated not only her stage win and a second overall victory at the Tour de France Femmes, lifting her bike aloft and letting out a triumphant scream after she crossed the finish line.
Behind, Blasi outsprinted Niewiadoma to finish runner-up on the stage, but it was the Polish rider that had to settle for second place in the general classification, whilst a late puncture for Longo Borghini gave her the same time as the rest of the group and meant that she moved up onto the podium in third place.
Results
Tour de France Femmes 2026 Stage Nine: Nice > Nice (99km)
1. Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ United-Suez, in 02:44:43
2. Paula Blasi (Esp) UAE Team L'IMAD, +1:04
3. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM
4. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZl) Lidl-Trek, all at same time
5. Antonia Niedermaier (Ger) Canyon-SRAM, +1:06
6. Isabella Holmgren (Can) Lidl-Trek, +1:08
7. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) UAE Team L'IMAD, +1:04*
8. Femke de Vries (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:57
9. Dominika Włodarczyk (Pol) UAE Team L'IMAD
10. Cédrine Kerbaol (Fra) EF Education-Oatly, all at same time
*Given same time due to a puncture in the final 3km
General Classification after Stage Nine
1. Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ United-Suez, in 30:54:51
2. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM, +1:18
3. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) UAE Team L'IMAD, +4:19
4. Antonia Niedermaier (Ger) Canyon-SRAM, +5:10
5. Paula Blasi (Esp) UAE Team L'IMAD, +6:13
6. Cédrine Kerbaol (Fra) EF Education-Oatly, +6:41
7. Dominika Włodarczyk (Pol) UAE Team L'IMAD, +7:53
8. Isabella Holmgren (Can) Lidl-Trek, +9:12
9. Kim Le Court-Pienaar (Mau) AG Insurance-Soudal, +14:04
10. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZl) Lidl-Trek, +15:14
