Demi Vollering seized the overall lead at the Tour de France Femmes with a ferocious late attack on the penultimate stage, overturning Kasia Niewiadoma's advantage to sit eight seconds clear heading into Sunday's finale in Nice. The Dutch rider, representing FDJ United-Suez, launched her decisive move on the Cote de la Ginestière and powered through the descent to the Promenade des Anglais, securing her fifth career stage victory in the race and a fifth yellow jersey.
Vollering's fifth stage win puts her in pole position
“It’s very special to be back in yellow,” Vollering said. “Tomorrow I start in yellow and I will do everything in my power to keep it. So much can happen – it’s still a big fight.” Her triumph came after she admitted regret over not chasing Niewiadoma more aggressively on Friday's summit finish at Mont Ventoux, where the Polish rider extended her lead.
The decisive moment arrived on the final climb of the Cote de la Ginestière, where Vollering attacked with brutal acceleration. She then descended at breakneck speed and extended her advantage on the long straight road to the finish in Nice, leaving Niewiadoma to limit her losses. The eight-second gap is the closest margin between the top two with one stage remaining in the race's history.
Niewiadoma accuses Vollering's team of blocking
Niewiadoma, the 2024 champion, was furious after the stage, accusing Vollering's teammate Célia Gery of deliberately blocking her at the bottom of the climb. “I was annoyed at the beginning of the climb because Gery, on purpose, just blocked me to the barriers where I had to stop pedalling,” Niewiadoma said. “They should compete fair play and not look to block me on the barriers because it is so childish. I lost all the respect for them for that.”
Race commissaires studied the incident after the stage, but Vollering denied seeing anything. “I didn’t see anything, I just saw what was in front of me,” she said. “It happened behind me. I don’t have eyes in the back of my head. Celia probably didn’t see Kasia and I’m sure she didn’t do it on purpose. I’m sure Kasia knows deep in her heart that those kinds of things just happen sometimes in racing. It’s the shit part of racing.”
Breakaway drama and Ferrand-Prévot's exit
The stage was enlivened by a two-rider breakaway featuring Maëva Squiban and Loes Adegeest, but Squiban crashed on a descent and was swallowed by the peloton, leaving Adegeest alone until she was caught nine kilometres from the finish. Meanwhile, French favourite Pauline Ferrand-Prévot's title defence ended abruptly before the stage, as she withdrew citing illness. Her trainer, Rutger Tijssen, admitted the signs had been there since stage five. “When she couldn’t hold on in the fifth stage, the signals were clearer,” he said. “We knew then that it wasn’t realistic to talk about winning the Tour.”
Sunday's final stage, based around Nice, features four climbs of the Col d'Eze, and with only eight seconds separating the top two, every second will count. The rivalry between Vollering and Niewiadoma echoes their epic 2024 duel, when Vollering lost by just four seconds, the narrowest margin in Tour de France history.
