Key takeaways from a memorable stage 8: Ferrand-Prévot rises from silence to take yellow

It was the stage that all the general classification riders had been waiting for, and whilst it did not go at all as expected, one thing is for sure: it did not disappoint. The “queen stage” of this year’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, and the first of the race’s two mountaintop finishes, took the riders through 3,549 metres of climbing all the way up to the summit of the Col de la Madeleine – upon which Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma | Lease a Bike) took her first Tour stage win less than four months after she won Paris-Roubaix, and rode herself closer to becoming the first French winner of the Tour de France in 40 years. Here are five key takeaways from the exhilarating stage.

In light of her incredible performance over the course of the race so far, many of us had begun to wonder whether Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) would be able to hold onto her lead in the general classification all the way to the end – but this stage gave us the definitive, and perhaps inevitable, answer: no. 

The Mauritian champion did incredibly well to claim a stage win and ride herself into the yellow jersey, however her climbing skills just weren’t quite there to allow her to hold onto it. In the early parts of the stage, she started out riding for herself, but when it became clear that her teammate, Sarah Gigante, would stand a greater chance on the climbs, she moved into a domestique role. 

However, as she did so, taking up pole position at the front to help drill the peloton down the descents, she unfortunately slid out on one of the corners and crashed. The peloton wasted no time in deciding not to wait for the yellow jersey, and so it appeared that the team’s choice to ride for Gigante was the right one. Le Court did manage to mitigate the damage, and eventually rode back to the peloton to put in a strong performance at the front for her teammate, but she ultimately pulled off with 11 kilometres to go, dropping back and conceding her lead to bring an end to her time in yellow. 

Once Le Court had been dropped, the yellow jersey was ripe for the taking, and – after spending the past few stages remaining relatively anonymous – it was Ferrand-Prévot that came alive to claim it. For the majority of the stage however, she continued with her passive approach, staying out of the break and not making any attacks of her own, even as the peloton began to climb the final ascent. It wasn’t until Gigante attacked with 11 kilometres to go that the French rider sprang into action, following her with ease as she bridged up to her teammate Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal), along with Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck). 

Only Ferrand-Prévot could keep up with Gigante, however, and once they caught up with her teammate, Marion Bunel, her chances of clinching the win increased by the minute. Bunel put in an incredible performance at the front of the group for Ferrand-Prévot, and once she was done, the Paris-Roubaix winner rode off the front, and away from Gigante, to continue on solo. 

She picked off all the riders in front, one by one, and barely breaking a sweat, until she was out in front alone with five kilometres to go. She was therefore able to soak up the support from the roaring French crowds as she reached the summit, and celebrate her general classification lead of over two minutes emphatically as she crossed the line. 

Her strategy of focusing solely on the Tour de France and swapping racing for altitude training since the 7th of May, has absolutely paid off, and she has now put herself in the perfect position to win her first Tour in her first season back on the road – despite originally believing that it would surely take her at least a few years. 

Going into stage 8, the top-5 of the general classification comprised Le Court, Ferrand-Prévot, Katarzyna Niewiadoma (CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto), Demi Vollering (FDJ-SUEZ) and Anna Van Der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), in that order, with each of them only really separated by a matter of seconds. Following the stage, however, this line-up has changed significantly. Ferrand-Prévot has now taken the top spot, with a seemingly insurmountable lead of two minutes and thirty-seven seconds, and Gigante has skyrocketed up into P2. Vollering – the rider that almost everyone thought would be the one to beat – has improved her GC position, having moved into third place, overtaking Niewiadoma, but is now three minutes and eighteen seconds down on the leader, meaning that her chances of winning the race have all but disappeared. Speaking of disappearances, after today’s stage, Van der Breggen has vanished from the top ten entirely, after losing virtually all her team support by the final climb, and dropping back herself soon after. Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) moved up into the fifth spot in her place, after a stellar climbing performance that saw her finish sixth in the stage. 

These changes in the general classification were entirely unexpected, and on paper, would be entirely inexplicable. Whilst many thought that Vollering would easily ride away to victory on the final climb, despite having two satellite riders in the break along with Juliette Labous (FDJ-SUEZ) in her group to help her, it was clear in stage 8 that for whatever reason – perhaps the after-effects of her crash earlier on in the race – she just didn’t have the legs. Neither did Niewiadoma, who found herself isolated on the final climb with no teammates to help her to follow Gigante’s decisive attack. The only explanation for things going so wrong for last year’s general classification top-2, must simply be that stated by Niewiadoma in her pre-race interview – the final climb was all about individual performances, with no amount of tactics being able to make up the difference. Essentially: may the best woman win (and in today’s stage, she did).

Another surprise, given the stage profile, was that one of the most impressive riders of stage 8 was Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime). Despite the sprint stages in this year’s Tour being all but over, Wiebes – determined to snatch up the rest of the intermediate sprint points to solidify her lead of the points classification – was not finished. Whilst many other strong riders, such as her teammates, Mischa Bredewold and Blanka Vas, were dropped immediately on the stage’s challenging uphill start, Wiebes managed to hang on all the way to the top of the first category 1 climb. She continued this great form throughout the majority of the stage, staying with the peloton over every climb but the last, and making herself visible at the front to pull the peloton down every descent. 

Once the peloton arrived at the intermediate sprint in Châteauneuf, Wiebes made sure that she was positioned well, attached herself to the Visma | Lease a Bike lead out train at the right moment, and breezed past the line ahead of Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike) to grab up the last points left after the breakaway riders had passed through, and increase her lead in the points classification over her compatriot. Even after securing the sprint points, Wiebes wasn’t ready to sit back and relax, instead remaining at the front of the peloton working to bring back the breakaway for her teammate, Anna van der Breggen. Only as the peloton rolled towards the base of the final, hors-catégorie, climb did she drop back, cool, calm and collected after an impressive day out. 

Before Ferrand-Prévot, came Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ), as the rider to initially reignite French cycling hopes after becoming the first French back-to-back Tour stage winner of the 21st century following her wins on stages 6 and 7, and she was still up and fighting on stage 8. Despite a breakaway group of around 14 riders forming without her, she calmly bridged across the gap a short while later by herself with ease. She then maintained a strong presence at the front of the group throughout the early stages, hoovering up queen of the mountains points on the first two categorised climbs behind Elise Chabbey (FDJ-SUEZ), and chasing down and joining the ultimately unsuccessful attack of Franziska Koch (Picnic PostNL) and Lotte Claes (Arkéa-B&B Hotels). 

The French rider stayed in the front group until there were only 17 kilometres to go, and once caught by the peloton, she still managed to hang on and stay with Vollering’s group for an impressive amount of time after Gigante attacked, ultimately finishing in 21st place. This year’s Tour has clearly been her breakout ride, and if her current form tells us anything, it’s that from this point onwards, this won’t be the last we’ll see of Maëva Squiban.