Key events
‘It was incredible’ says Squiban after her second stage win in two days
Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) spoke to reporters after her stage seven win. Of her second Tour de France Femmes victory, the 23-year-old French rider said:
Yes it was incredible.
She said her aim was to attack from the start and although that didn’t work out, her and the team are “proud of what we did today”. Very humble. After Annemiek van Vleuten, Charlotte Kool and Lorena Wiebes, Squiban becomes the fourth rider to win two consecutive Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift stages. Not to mention, UAE Team ADQ only have three riders left in the race, having had four withdrawals.
QOM classification: top five after stage seven
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Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez), 29pts
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Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ), 17pts
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Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco), 17pts
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Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ), 14pt
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Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx Protime), 4pts
Points classification: top five after stage seven
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Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), 208pts
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Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), 178pts
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Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 133pts
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Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), 108pts
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Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx Protime), 88pts
General classification: top 10 after stage seven
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Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 22hrs 28mins 31secs
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Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike), +26secs
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Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon/SRAM), +30secs
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Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), +31secs
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Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx Protime), +35secs
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Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck), +1min 4secs
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Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly), +1min 9secs
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Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal), +1min 14secs
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Évita Muzic (FDJ-Suez), +1min 35secs
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Juliette Labous (FDJ-Suez), +1min 35secs
Not much movement on the GC rankings, with no change in position of the top six placed riders. Cédrine Kerbaol moves up two spots to seventh place, while Sarah Gigante drops one. Évita Muzic is up to ninth from tenth place and Juliette Labous moves up to 10th from 11th. Puck Pieterse drops four positions from eight position to 12th.
Top five on stage seven
1. Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ)
2. Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) +51secs
3. Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) +51secs
4. Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek) +53secs
5. Dominika Włodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ) +1min
Maëva Squiban wins stage seven!
Maëva Squiban – what a rider! Two days, two wins. Incredible. She was on the front page of the L’Équipe sports section today, I expect she’ll be back on it tomorrow. The French fans will be delighted, as are the rest of us Tour de France Femmes followers. That was fabulous and intelligent racing from the 23-year-old.
1km to go: Squiban is through the flamme rouge and approaches the finish with a big grin on her face. What an incredible ride from the 23-year-old!
3km to go: Le Court Pienaar is back! She’s with the Vollering, Niewiadoma-Phinney, Ferrand-Prévot and van der Breggen group. Edwards, Meijering and Van Anrooij are chasing Squiban but she’s got more than 1min on them. Surely this is Squiban’s if nothing unfortunate happens.
5km to go: I imagine Colin who emailed in earlier (see 1.07pm BST) about the skill required for descending must be enjoying Squiban’s work here. She is smashing it!
8km to go: Le Court Pienaar is not giving up. She has the group of GC favourites in her sight and is in an aerotuck (there’s a rule now that you have to keep your behind on the saddle, to avoid riders sitting on their top tube down descents).
11km to go: Le Court Pienaar could be in a bit of trouble here. She’s 30 secs behind but she can’t afford to let that group of GC contenders get away on this descent. Out front, Squiban looks to be repeating yesterday’s victory. Head down, she’s spinning furiously and confidently towards the finish.
13km to go: A powerful chasing group including Vollering, Niewiadoma-Phinney, Ferrand-Prévot and van der Breggen are sweeping down the descent. They’re 1min 5secs behind Squiban.
16km to go: Squiban, cheered on by large crowds at the summit of Col du Granier, passes under the QOM banner. She’s now descending – it’s a 17km technical sweep towards the finish. Demi Vollering attacks on the climb!
18km to go: Iris Slappendel is on the back of the moto for TNT Sports and is behind Squiban on the climb. She says the UAE Team ADQ is “on fire”. Slappendel points out that the final 2km of the Col du Granier is steep, open and windy.
Again, on Squiban, Slappendel says:
She is looking amazing. She has nothing to lose any more. She has been set free. Anything she wins now is a bonus …
She must have got such a confidence boost out of yesterday … she is carried by all the crowds on the Col du Granier here. They’re all rooting for her.
19km to go: Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) has caused some damage in the peloton, as she ascends the final climb at speed. Kim Le Court Pienaar is dropped. At the front Squiban cools herself down with a bidon and pushes the pedals. It’s not too much further to the top and then there’s a 17km descent to the finish. Plus, Meijering has been dropped.
20km to go: Squiban and Meijering are ahead with 4km to go until the summit of the category two Col du Granier. Squiban signals to Meijering to take a turn and then shakes her head in frustration.
22km to go: Squiban has bridged across to Edwards and Meijering. Rijnbeek is slightly behind the leading trio now, with Van Anrooij. Scratch that, Rijnbeek and Van Anrooij have made it across to make it a group of five. Squiban is fired up!
24km to go: Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) and Mareille Meijering (Movistar) have joined Maud Rijnbeek (VolkerWessels) and have got almost 30secs on the 10 counterattackers remaining from the breakaway earlier. As I write though, that gap is being brought down as the climb continues.
26km to go: Rijnbeek has 24secs on the poursuivantes. She managed to take advantage of a stalemate in the breakaway where the riders slowed and were eyeing each other up, looking to see who would put in the work. The Dutch VolkerWessels’ rider has just passed under the polka dot banner marking the start of the final climb.
30km to go: Fenix Deceuninck have been setting a high pace in the peloton, with the gap to the breakaway which had been up to 5mins being reduced to 3mins 9secs.
Côte de Berland result:
1. Squiban, 2pts
2. Rijnbeek, 1pt
32km to go: Rijnbeek attacks and gets a little distance as the group meanders behind her. They’ll face the Col du Granier in about 5km.
34km to go: The breakaway reach the summit of the short and sharp category four Côte de Berland (1.2km at 7.2%). Squiban is first over the line as the group rolls over it close together. It’s up, up, up from here as the riders continue to ascend before the final and descisive climb, the category two Col du Granier.
35km to go: The breakaway has swelled to 13 riders, with Janse, Rijnbeek, Arzuffi and Jastrab making it back to the group at the bottom of the descent. The break now has just over 5mins on the peloton.
37km to go: The TNT Sports’ commentators are calling it and think the breakaway will go all the way to the line. They highlight the fact that there are some very strong riders in this group.
Behind, Lorena Wiebes has led the peloton on the descent of Côte de Saint-Franc, with Anna van der Breggen close behind.
42km to go: Here are the results from the Côte de Saint-Franc climb for QOM points:
1. Squiban, 5pts
2. Van Anrooij, 3pts
3. Kopecky, 2pts
4. Meijering, 1pt
46km to go: Jansen has also been dropped from the breakaway. Yesterday’s stage winner, Squiban, is the first rider to reach the summit of Côte de Saint-Franc. Ghekiere, Squiban, Van Anrooij, Dygert, Kopecky, Edwards, Meijering, Le Net, and Le Mouel form the leading group now.
Marc has emailed from Mauritius with a simple message for Kim Le Court Pienaar, who is in the yellow jersey. He says:
ALLEZ KIM.
50km to go: The ascent of the Côte de Saint-Franc climb has splintered the breakaway; Brand, González, Andersen and Mangan, among others, have been dropped. Iris Slappendel, who is on the back of the moto for TNT Sports, says it is really hot out there. She has an ice sock that she says she’s excited to use.
56km to go: The first categorised climb of the day, the second category Côte de Saint-Franc (3.8km at 6.9%) is coming up soon. The break are almost 4mins ahead of the 112 riders in the peloton.
64km to go: The 17-rider breakaway (for full list, see 1.19pm BST) have a gap of 3min 46secs on the peloton. Valerie Demey (VolkerWessels), Marthe Truyen (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Elyne Roussel (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93) have been dropped and are 2min 16secs behind the bunch.
Mark, who also got in touch during the Tour de France live blogs, has emailed in:
Thanks for coverage, Amy and the Guardian.
We used to say, for every uphill, there’s a downhill. . . . But now 66, I am better at downhill riding. Also, I am very good at eating cheese and hope Les Femmes will return to Chambéry for their just desserts after the Tour. They are admirable athletes all.
I think he means literal desserts. A quick online search tells me Chambéry excels at sweet treats, with traditional highlights including the Biscuit de Savoie, Au Fidèle Berger, Brioche de Saint-Genix and chocolate truffles. I am not a pâtisserie expert so this is by no means an exhaustive or a 100% reliable list. They all do sound delicious though and exactly what you’d want after cycling up some mountains.
73km to go: After passing through the intermediate sprint, the 17-rider breakaway have increased their lead to 4mins.
Here is an interesting stat via the Tour social media channels:
The gaps between the top five in the general classification have never been so close after six stages of the Tour de France Femmes. The top five are currently separated by 35” between them, compared to 56” last year, 55” in 2023, and 1’05” in 2022.
78km to go: Earlier the breakaway scooped up points as they passed through the intermediate sprint at Groslée-Saint-Benoit. Irish rider Fiona Mangan (Winspace Orange Seal) was first across the line.
Result of the intermediate sprint at Groslée-Saint-Benoit:
1. Mangan, 25pts
2. González Blanco, 20pts
3. Edwards, 17pts
4. Kopecky, 15pts
5. Le Net, 13pts
6. Jansen, 11pts
7. Arzuffi, 10pts
8. Le Mouel, 9pts
9. Dygert, 8pts
10. Meijering, 7pts
11. Jastrab, 6pts
12. Van Anrooij, 5pts
13. Brand, 4pts
14. Ghekiere, 3pts
15. Squiban, 2pts
83km to go: Canyon/SRAM zondacrypto have said, in a statement on social media, that Soraya Paladin has “been taken to hospital for further assessment” after her crash on stage seven.
87km to go: The breakaway seem to be back together as a group of 17 after Kopecky’s attack and have 3min 26secs on the peloton. On TNT Sports, yellow jersey leader, Kim Le Court Pienaar, spoke after yesterday’s stage about today’s finish. She said she thinks the descent could be “dangerous” and hopes that riders won’t take risks. Her hope is that there’s a small group at the top of the Col du Granier, before that 17km downhill.
Soraya Paladin withdraws from the race after crashing
Soraya Paladin (Canyon/SRAM zondacrypto) has decided to abandon today’s stage after a crash earlier.
93km to go: Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) attacks! She’s followed by Chloe Dygert (Canyon/SRAM zondacrypto). The peloton remain 2mins 45secs behind the group of riders out front. I’m not sure Kopecky and Dygert’s attack has stuck.
Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) who is eighth overall in the GC spoke to the Tour race centre before stage six on her ambitions:
I’m excited for what’s coming up. I still am in the top 10, it will be nice of course to keep that position, but we’ll just have to see the upcoming few days. I think there will be some quite big time gaps. We expect some riders anticipating before the last downhill today in order to not get thrown out on the back. Maybe we’ll see a break already on the flat, but we’ll just have to see, for us it’s about staying in control and stay with the GC riders.
100km to go: It’s been a rapid start to this stage with the riders averaging 46km/h. The breakaway’s gap has reduced slightly to 2mins 45secs.
109km to go: There are splits in the peloton – the bunch led by Visma-Lease a Bike has split into three parts. The race centre reports that Soraya Paladin (Canyon/SRAM zondacrypto) has crashed but no more information is yet available. I’ll update on this once I get more info.
117km to go: Fenix-Deceuninck and Liv-Alula-Jayco are driving the peloton, but the breakway of 17 riders have extended their lead to 3mins 5secs.
129km to go: Here we go. These are the 17 riders that are now 1min 45secs ahead of the peloton: Chloe Dygert (Canyon/SRAM zondacrypto), Marie Le Net (FDJ-Suez), Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime), Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ), Mareille Meijering (Movistar), Lucinda Brand, Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek), Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance Soudal-Team), Megan Jastrab (Picnic PostNL), Susanne Andersen (Uno-X Mobility), Célia Le Mouel (Ceratizit), Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health), Alicia González (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93), Alice Arzuffi (Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi), Fiona Mangan (Winspace Orange Seal), Eline Jansen and Maud Rijnbeek (Volkerwessels).
134km to go: A large breakaway group of 17 riders has opened a one minute gap at the front. I’m struggling to get names as the TV coverage hasn’t started yet and I’m relying on the official race centre and radio. I will update as soon as I catch some names!
Colin has been in touch via email with some thoughts on today’s stage. He writes:
Thanks for the coverage – it’s been great so far and looking forward to the last three days.
Two thoughts today:
– I would love to see Cédrine Kerbaol take off on the last descent to claim the stage. Descents mostly get talked about for their danger, but riding fast downhill is a skill that needs practice and experience. You’ve got to admire her daring and talent.
– What are FDJ-Suez doing? They have the pre-race favourite in the team yet yesterday Elise Chabbey spent most of the day pulling the break and sprinting for QOM points. Then Juliette Labous tried to get away from the GC favourites near the end of the stage, when there was no likely chance of her catching Maëva Squiban, and she wasn’t threatening anyone on GC. It might be Demi Vollering is strong enough to win anyway, but with three tough stages to come, I’d have been saving my domestiques for support when it matters, not fighting for the QOM jersey or attacking for the hell of it, which are surely minor considerations compared to winning yellow.
Looking forward to following along today!
Both very good points. I am always in awe of the descending skills of the professionals. It’s quite something to watch. And on FDJ-Suez, there was a lot of similiar thoughts from the commentators yesterday on TNT Sports.
143km to go: Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek) bridges across to Squiban and for a moment, the duo manage an 18sec gap. But the peloton are not having it, they’ve swallowed them up and all is back together.
149km to go: Blimey, yesterday’s solo breakaway hasn’t dampened Maëva Squiban’s (UAE Team ADQ) energy. She’s off again! She manages an 8sec gap on the peloton.
The racing has begun!
156km to go: And we’re off! The riders set off as the race flag is dropped and stage seven is now officially under way. There have been no withdrawals this morning so there are 132 riders in the peloton.
Here is a summary of what today’s stage has in store from the Tour’s race centre:
While its profile seems less daunting than the two days that follow – with Col de la Madeleine on Saturday and Col de Joux Plane on Sunday – this seventh stage in truth remains no less tricky and promises to produce a great battle.
The final third of the 159.7-km route is a rollercoaster, with a dizzying plunge towards Chambéry. At the summit of Col du Granier, which the riders will reach following an 8.9km climb at 5.3% (category two), they’ll have to be brave for what comes next: a 17km descent to reach the finish.
To win the stage, they’ll have to take risks. Even if it means losing everything? This is the dilemma that will arise for the top guns, who are all still neck and neck with three days to go.
Today’s rollout has begun
Stage seven of the Tour de France Femmes 2025 is under way. The peloton have rolled out from Bourg-en-Bresse. There’s a 3.1km neutralised section before the racing begins.
In his race report yesterday, Jeremy Whittle provided this handy summary of stage six’s impact on the GC ranking:
Kim Le Court was as good as her word at the bonus sprints and made every second count. The Mauritian took another four seconds, just ahead of the defending champion, Kasia Niewiadoma, to extend her overall lead. “The goal was to control the race, and then see if the legs were there,” she said. “After that, it was to take the remaining bonus seconds, as there was already a rider up ahead.”
“We tried to close the gap to Squiban to try and get the stage, but it wasn’t going to happen so tried to get a bit more time at the finish. I couldn’t wish for it to be better, apart from maybe winning the stage.”
The 29-year-old leads by 26 seconds from Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and by 30 seconds from Niewiadoma, who leap-frogged the pre-race favourite, Demi Vollering, into third place.
The first mountain stage included 2,475m of altitude gain over four categorised climbs, including the first category Col du Beal, and provoked significant time gaps. Marianne Vos tumbled down the yellow jersey rankings, dropping from sixth to 29th.
And who’s wearing which jersey:
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Yellow jersey: Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 18hrs 29mins 5secs
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Green jersey: Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), 208pts
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Polka dot jersey: Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez), 29pts
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White jersey: Julie Bego (Cofidis), 18hrs 36mins 24secs
Here’s a reminder of the top ten on GC after stage six:
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Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 18hrs 29mins 5secs
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Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike), +26secs
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Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon/SRAM), +30secs
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Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), +31secs
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Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx Protime), +35secs
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Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck), +53secs
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Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal), +1min 3secs
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Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), +1min 4secs
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Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly), +1min 24secs
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Évita Muzic (FDJ-Suez), +1min 24secs
Here is the route profile of stage seven of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift:
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Stage seven: Bourg-en-Bresse to Chambéry, 160km
Here’s a look at today’s stage, Friday 1 August: Bourg-en-Bresse to Chambéry, 159.7km, with the race director of the Tour de France Femmes, Marion Rousse:
From the magnificent monastery at Brou, the race will start on flat roads on the edge of the Dombes and the Ain plain. The riders will skim past the Glandieu waterfall before finding their pace checked by the Saint-Franc climb. After passing through Les Échelles and the Guiers Vif gorges, they will head for the Col du Granier (8.9km at 5.4%). The dive into the finish, located in front of the Chambéry Savoie Stadium, is likely to be fast and technical.
Preamble
After yesterday’s mountain stage, there’s a hilly parcours for the riders today, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be an easy day for them. The fatigue is building and there are two more mountain days before the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift culminates in Châtel this Sunday. Stage seven also brings us the first day in the Alps of this year’s Tour de France Femmes.
Today’s stage will take the peloton over almost 160km of roads, with three categorised climbs loaded into the second half. After reaching the summit of the final climb, the Col du Granier (8.9km averaging 5.4%), those battling for the stage win will swoop down a fast and technical descent into Chambéry. GC contenders will want to position themselves well to either gain time or not lose it. Those that are particularly adept at descending, such as Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon/SRAM), may well also have their eye on the stage win. Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) are also riders that relish a fast, technical mountain descent. But don’t take your eyes off the maillot jaune, Kim Le Court Pienaar, who is looking particularly strong, not to mention her closely placed competitors, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez).
The rollout will begin at 1.30pm CET/12.30pm BST, so stick with us for live updates of the racing.
If you want to catch up on yesterday’s lively stage and Maëva Squiban’s (UAE Team ADQ) perfect attack, here is Jeremy Whittle’s report from Ambert:
