Jeremy Whittle's stage six report from Ambert
What a fun stage to cover! Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) timed her attack to perfection and swooped away to win stage six with a solo breakaway. It was exciting and inspiring. A fabulous day for the young French rider. Elise Chabbey drove the breakaway for a good chunk of the day, while the GC riders stayed fairly safe. Marianne Vos tumbled down the yellow jersey rankings, dropping from sixth position to 29th after stage six. For the maillot jaune – Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) – it was a good day, although as she joked in her post race interview: “It could be better for me if I won the stage.”
On the topic of Le Court Pienaar, here’s a lovely email from Marc in Mauritius:
Just to share our pride, excitement and love for Kim Le Court in the Tour de France Femmes.
It’s phenomenal and the whole island is wishing her well. We are glued to the TV during the Tour hours.
Thank you for reading the updates and getting in touch. A full race report will be shared here soon.
Updated
QOM classification: top five after stage six
Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez), 29pts
Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco), 17pts
Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ), 14pt
Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ), 5pts
Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx Protime), 4pts
Points classification: top five after stage six
Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), 208pts
Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), 178pts
Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 118pts
Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), 97pts
Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx Protime), 75pts
General classification: top 10 after stage six
Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 18hrs 29mins 5secs
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike), +26secs
Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon/SRAM), +30secs
Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), +31secs
Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx Protime), +35secs
Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck), +53secs
Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal), +1min 3secs
Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), +1min 4secs
Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly), +1min 24secs
Évita Muzic (FDJ-Suez), +1min 24secs
Demi Vollering drops one position to fourth place on the GC, while Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) is out of the top ten. She goes from sixth place to 29th.
'I didn't expect to do that' says Maëva Squiban on her 'amazing' first Tour win
Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) spoke to reporters after her stage 6 win. Of her first Tour de France Femmes victory, the 23-year-old French rider said:
It is an amazing feeling. I didn’t expect to do that … I know we had a strong team and we knew we could do something special today. [It’s] a very special day for us.
Updated
Top five on stage six
First and second place on stage six of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift go to French riders to the delight of crowds in Ambert.
1. Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ)
2. Juliette Labous (FDJ-Suez) +1min 9secs
3. Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) +1min 13secs
4. Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) +1min 13secs
5. Dominika Włodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ) +1min 13secs
Updated
Maëva Squiban wins stage six
The 23-year-old UAE Team ADQ rider has done it. What a punchy attack from the young French cyclist! She did an amazing job there.
Updated
1km to go: She’s nearly there! Squiban swoops under the flamme rouge.
3km to go: Squiban is powering on. Juliette Labous (FDJ-Suez) is in pursuit but is 1min 26sec behind the UAE Team ADQ rider. This is looking very good for Squiban!
10km to go: Le Court Pienaar attacks to grab a time bonus at the summit, with Niewiadoma-Phinney following. Squiban gets a 6sec time bonus, Le Court Pienaar grabs 4secs and Niewiadoma-Phinney nabs 2secs.
Updated
12km to go: Squiban gets the bonus point, crests the summit and begins descending. Behind her, the peloton is being driven by FDJ-Suez for Demi Vollering who is a favourite for today’s stage win.
13km to go: There’s 1km to go until the bonus point at the top of this climb to Valcivières. Squiban is well on her way to getting it. She’s riding up this 5% gradient at 25km/h.
15km to go: An official motorbike has just gone past Squiban, letting her know she has a 1min 20sec gap on the bunch. The 23-year-old is still looking strong and speedy, plugging away.
20km to go: Squiban glides under the 20km to go banner and the French rider is loudly cheered as she cycles past spectators. The gap to the peloton grows to 1min 14secs.
Col du Chansert result
1. Squiban, 5pts
2. Chabbey, 3pts
3. Gigante, 2pts
4. Van der Breggen, 1pt
24km to go: It’s exciting and a little terrifying to watch Squiban flying down this descent and skirting tightly round the corners. She has over a minute on the peloton. Lidl-Trek’s Niamh Fisher-Black has a mechanical and can be seen speaking into her team radio.
Maëva Squiban attacks and goes on solo breakaway
31km to go: Chabbey – the sole survivor of the breakaway – has been caught by the yellow jersey group. Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) attacks and manages to pull away 3km from the summit of the Col du Chansert. She quickly builds a gap on the peloton of a minute.
Updated
32km to go: Kerbaol and Niewiadoma-Phinney are caught by the yellow jersey group. The riders are now on the final categorised climb of the day – the category two Col du Chansert (6.3km at 5.5%).
Result of the Col du Béal climb
1. Chabbey, 10 pts
2. Smulders, 8 pts
3. Chapman, 6 pts
4. Kastelijn, 4 pts
5. Lippert, 2 pts
6. Coston, 1 pt
Updated
35km to go: Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) attacks to leave the GC riders behind on this fast and flowing downhill. Defending camphion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon/SRAM zondacrypto) goes with her and the two of them descend at speeds which make my eyes water.
Updated
39km to go: Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx Protime) takes a turn on the front of the peloton.
Chabbey continues to fly down the descent. Smulders is distanced and Chabbey is joined by Lippert. The peloton are about 30secs behind.
44km to go: Smulders attacks to get ahead of Chabbey on the summit and signals for her to join her in a break. The duo have a slight advantage as they start the tricky descent but the other riders they’ve just left are just over their shoulders.
45km to go: Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) is briefly distanced on the climb but makes it back into the breakaway group. I think if I was out in France to watch this stage, this climb would have been a great spot to spectate from.
47km to go: Chabbey is really pushing the pace up this climb, which looks beautiful through the woods but also brutal and long. Some of the others in the break aren’t looking as comfortable as the polka dot jersey wearer. The peloton are about 40secs behind and the group with Wiebes are 4mins 45secs back.
Updated
49km to go: Pfeiffer Georgi and Femke Gerritse have been dropped on this tough climb, so the breakaway is down to 10 riders. Chabbey is looking strong at the front of the break.
51km to go: As AG Insurance-Soudal push the pace at the front of the bunch, riders get dropped from the peloton. The breakaway’s lead has reduced to about 30secs. Interestingly, the race centre says in an update:
On this tough Col du Beal (cat one, 10.2km at 5.6%) climb, the time gap from the break to the peloton has dropped by more than 20 seconds in the last 10 minutes.
Updated
53km to go: It’s just under 9km to the category one Col du Béal, but there is a fair bit of climbing for the riders already. As the stage profile shows, it just goes up and up before the Col.
58km to go: Wiebes, who was off the back of the peloton, has made it back to the bunch.
On TNT Sports, former professional cyclist Iris Slappendel who is on the back of a moto, says it’s an “interesting break”, as from what she’s observed, there are only a few riders driving the group. She mentions Champan, Lippert and Coston as working but says a few of the other riders are sitting in the back. She suggest that they have “other plans” for the stage win.
60km to go: Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma- Lease a Bike), who is second placed on the GC, spoke to the Tour race centre before today’s stage. She said:
The battle started yesterday. I opened the attack a little too early, I left a few rounds of fire at the end of the climb. I’d better race smarter today if I want to overcome the difficult climbs with the best riders. I know I have the legs, but now I’ll have to be smart and not be in too much of a hurry.
Yesterday, the goal was to win with Marianne [Vos] and not lose time in the general classification. Today, it’s only for the general classification, that will simplify things. I hope that Marion [Bunel] will be recovered from her fall, so that she can already enjoy herself, and that she can recover for the next stages.
65km to go: The breakaway of 12 riders, including Chabbey, Smulders, Lippert, Georgi, Paladin, Kastelijn, Ostolaza, Kraak, Coston, Hanson, Chapman, and Gerritse have kept their lead on the peloton steady at 1min.
Result of the Côte d’Augerolles climb:
1. Chapman, 3 pts
2. Chabbey, 2 pts
3. Smulders, 1 pt
Kristýna Burlová withdraws from the race
Kristýna Burlová (Ceratizit) has just withdrawn from the Tour de France Femmes. In a statement on social media, Burlova’s team wrote:
Unfortunately, after two crashes and one hell of a fight to the line yesterday, Kristýna Burlová has retired from the Tour de France Femmes on stage six.
Time to rest up and recover, Kristýna. What a display of fighting spirit
71km to go: The mountains have split the 133 riders, as expected. The breakaway of 12 riders has over a minute on the peloton and 42secs on the four riders dropped from the break. A bunch of 17 riders, including Alison Jackson (EF Education-Oatly), are almost a minute behind the peloton.
Updated
77km to go: The riders are climbing the category three Côte d’Augerolles (2.6km at 5.6%). Several riders including Erić and Molenaar (Volkerwessels) are dropped. The breakaway group are down to 12 riders now.
78km to go: With the Côte de Courpière conquered, the breakaway group of 20 riders grows its gap. Chabbey lead the group scoring three points at the summit.
85km to go: Well, it seems Chabbey and Zanetti were actually caught by a chasing group before the intermediate sprint, as these results show:
1. Chabbey, 25 pts
2. Georgi, 20 pts
3. Lippert, 17 pts
4. Hanson, 15 pts
5. Williams, 13 pts
6. Molenaar, 11 pts
7. Kraak, 10 pts
8. Gerritse, 9 pts
9. Pluimers, 8 pts
10. Erić, 7 pts
11. Zanetti, 6 pts
12. Coston, 5 pts
13. Norsgaard, 4 pts
14. Chapman, 3 pts
15. Bredewold, 2 pts
So, they’re now part of a 20-rider breakaway. They’ve been joined by Lily Williams (Human Powered Health), Liane Lippert (Movistar), Pfeiffer Georgi (Picnic-PostNL),
Silke Smulders (Liv Alula Jayco), Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Letizia Paternoster (Liv Alula Jayco), Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck), Usoa Ostolaza (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Amber Kraak (FDJ-Suez), Morgane Coston (Roland Le Dévoluy), Lauretta Hanson (Lidl-Trek), Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ), Emma Norsgaard (Lidl-Trek), Laura Molenaar (VolkerWessels), Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime), Femke Gerritse (SD Worx-Protime) and Jelena Erić (Movistar).
Updated
89km to go: Chabbey crosses the line first at the intermediate sprint and gets 25 green jersey points. Chabbey and Zanetti’s lead increases to 40secs as the first categorised climb looms.
94km to go: In the polka dot jersey, Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez) bridges across to Zanetti (Uno-X Mobility). The pair are 12secs ahead as they ride towards the intermediate sprint. It’s been a speedy start, with an average of 45km/h.
98km to go: Coston is caught and Uno-X Mobility’s Linda Zanetti shoots off. She’s managed to open up a gap of 15secs.
Updated
108km to go: Green jersey leader Lorena Wiebes has a go at getting away, and heading towards the intermediate sprint without the rest of the peloton, but is caught shortly with three other riders that had gone with her.
Not long after, French champion Marie Le Net (FDJ-Suez) is one of 10 riders who attack. Again no luck. Morgane Coston (Roland Le Dévoluy) goes solo and manages a slender gap of 10secs on the bunch.
Updated
Cycling Weekly have a great piece asking the Tour de France Femmes questions we all wonder about but don’t want to ask – or as the publication puts it ‘dumb questions’, although I don’t think they are. This is a great example: columnist Marley Blonsky asked Veronica Ewers, a pro cyclist for EF Education-Oatly, how riders pee during the race. Ewers explained:
I personally am terrified of going pee during a race because, for us women, it’s a little bit more difficult … We have to sort of fully unclothe to go to the bathroom, which takes a bit more time.
If I needed to pee, I would say it in the radio to my team: ‘Hey, I need to pee. Does anyone else need to?’. Because it’s better to stop with other people so that you can work together to get back to the peloton.
In longer races, usually you’ll hear somebody in the peloton yell ‘pee stop’, and then half the bunch stops for a pee. That’s generally how it goes. We have to make sure that we’re out of towns a good amount to do that, just for public decency, which I can definitely understand.
Updated
155km to go: Despite a flurry of early attacks, the 133 riders are together and heading out of Clermont-Ferrand on flat roads. At 30km in, there will be an intermediate sprint with points on offer for the green jersey classification.
Updated
If you’re into the Tour de France Femmes fantasty team selections, you might be interested to know that the most selected riders for today’s stage win are Demi Vollering, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney.
Updated
The racing has begun!
122km to go: And we’re off! The riders set off as the race flag is dropped and the attacks come rapidly.
Valentina Cavallar and Mie Bjørndal Ottestad withdraw from the race
Arkéa-B&B Hotels have announced that their rider Valentina Cavallar will not start stage six of the Tour de France Femmes due to illness. Additionally, Uno X-Mobility said Mie Bjørndal Ottestad would not be starting today. That means that Uno X-Mobility now only have three riders left in the race: Susanne Andersen, Linda Zanetti and Teuntje Beekhuis.
Updated
Today’s rollout has begun
Stage six of the Tour de France Femmes 2025 is under way. The peloton have rolled out from Clermont-Ferrand. There’s a 9.7 km neutralised section before the racing begins.
Updated
Here is the route profile of stage six:
Sarah Gigante has an infectious energy that shines through whether she is saluting after blowing away her rivals on the toughest of mountain stages, or celebrating every day as much as her successes on social media. The Australian cyclist even keeps her smile beaming while reflecting on a recent health concern that threatened to bring her promising career to a standstill. But hidden just beneath the surface is a killer instinct to “make others hurt”, as well as a steely determination to overcome challenges on and off the bike that have helped lift Gigante into the cycling form of her life.
The 24-year-old is still coming to terms with the thrill and pride taken from finishing on the podium at the Giro d’Italia Donne when she was third overall behind winner Elisa Longo Borghini. Gigante finished 1min 11sec behind the Italian home favourite and defending champion, with Switzerland’s Marien Reusser in between, but claimed a pair of spectacular stage wins when soloing away on mountain-top finishes and cemented her place as the best climber in the race with the Queen of the Mountains jersey.
Updated
In case you missed this yesterday, here is Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) working on her impressive football skills before stage five:
And who’s wearing which jersey:
Yellow jersey – Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 15hrs 7mins 14secs
Green jersey – Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), 208pts
Polka dot jersey – Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez), 11pts
White jersey – Julie Bego (Cofidis), 15hrs 9mins 24secs
Here’s a reminder of the top ten on GC after stage five:
Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 15hrs 7mins 14secs
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike), +18secs
Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), +23secs
Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon/SRAM), +24secs
Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx Protime), +27secs
Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), +37secs
Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck), +45secs
Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal), +55secs
Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), +1min 4secs
Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly), +1min 16secs
Updated
Stage six: Clermont-Ferrand to Ambert, 124km
Here’s a look at today’s stage, Thursday 31 July: Clermont-Ferrand to Ambert, 123.7km, with the race director of the Tour de France Femmes, Marion Rousse:
The stage, which starts in the huge Place de Jaude in the heart of Clermont-Ferrand, will be run entirely in the department of Puy-de-Dôme. Beginning on fairly flat roads, it will head to Courpière, where things will get serious. The ascent of the Col du Béal (10.2km at 5.6%) will be quickly followed by those of the Col de Chansert (6.3km at 5.5%) and the Côte de Valcivieres. Running through a wild landscape of volcanic rock, there will be no respite at all on the road to Ambert.
Preamble
The mountains are calling. Today’s 123.7km stage will take the riders towards the terrain of the Central Massif, with four categorised climbs and about 2,350m of ascent on the menu. There are two category three climbs, one category two and one category one, all within a 60km stretch before a finish in Ambert.
While the stage will start on fast, flat roads out of Clermont-Ferrand, the peloton will need to find their climbing legs pronto. This is one of three mountain stages of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift this year, with the other two coming up this weekend.
So, who will be victorious today? The GC contenders will surely want a piece of the action. Winner of yesterday’s stage and in the yellow jersey, Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) is looking strong, but Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) are also ones to keep an eye on. As is defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto), who excels on this kind of parcours. Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) won’t want to miss out either.
As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on today’s stage and the Tour de France Femmes in general. You can drop me an email via the link at the top of the page.
Before today’s stage starts at 2pm CET/1pm BST, here’s a summary of yesterday’s action:
Updated
