French rider Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt took a commanding lead at the women’s Tour de France after launching a solo attack on the final climb of the penultimate stage on Saturday, August 2. She is making her Tour debut at 33 years old and leads Australian rider Sarah Gigante by 2 minutes, 37 seconds, and 2023 champion Demi Vollering of the Netherlands by 3:18, heading into Sunday’s last stage.
Last year’s event had the smallest winning margin in the history of the women’s and men’s races, but Ferrand-Prévôt looks like she may win far more comfortably, barring mishap. She won the mountain bike gold medal at last year’s Paris Olympics and the Paris-Roubaix classic in April.
Overnight, she trailed Mauritian rider Kim Le Court by 26 seconds heading into stage 8 from Chambéry to Saint-François-Longchamp, which took the riders on a 112-kilometer trek into the mountains. It featured an early climb of 13 kilometers up Col de Plainpalais before finishing with a tortuous ascent of 18.6 kilometers to Col de Madeleine, one of the most famed climbs in cycling.
Ferrand-Prévôt made a move on her main rivals about 9 km from the top, pulling away to chase after Niamh Fisher-Black and Yara Kastelijn ahead of her. She soon caught them and then rode unchallenged to clinch the stage win. Gigante crossed the line 1:45 behind her, while Fisher-Black rolled in 2:15 behind in third spot. Vollering placed fourth.
Sunday’s ninth and final stage from Praz-sur-Arly to Châtel is another mountainous route, with three big climbs, and is even longer at 124 km.
