Demi Vollering of FDJ-Suez secured victory on stage eight of the Tour de France Femmes, a 171.9km route from Sisteron to Nice, and moved into the overall race lead with one stage remaining. The Dutch rider’s attack came on the Cote de la Ginestiere, the final climb positioned approximately 8km from the finish, allowing her to establish a decisive advantage before the descent to the line.
Vollering crossed the finish in 4hrs 2mins 39secs, with Elisa Longo Borghini and Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney following 17 seconds behind. The time gap, combined with stage bonuses, resulted in Vollering holding an eight-second lead over Niewiadoma-Phinney in the general classification heading into Sunday’s concluding 99.2km mountain stage that starts and finishes in Nice. Marlen Reusser remained in third place, 1min 12secs adrift of the leader.
The race lead changed hands for consecutive days, as Niewiadoma-Phinney had won the previous stage on Mont Ventoux to take the jersey from Reusser. The stage eight victory marked Vollering’s second win of the race and set the stage for a competitive final day. Vollering, the 2023 Tour champion, acknowledged the difficulty of the challenge ahead, stating that anything could occur during the concluding stage despite her narrow advantage.
Defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevost withdrew from the race on Saturday morning citing illness. In other classification standings, Puck Pieterse held the lead in the mountains classification, while Lorena Wiebes maintained a commanding position in the points classification.
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