Le Court snares Tour Femmes stage 6 win after late chase and perfect sprint

Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) claimed victory on stage 6 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in Tournon-sur-Rhône from a sprint of six riders ahead of Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech).

A strong six-rider group formed on the descent of the Col de Lalouvesc with 34km remaining, ignited by French champion Célia Gery (FDJ United-Suez). 

The move included Sarah Van Dam (Visma | Lease a Bike), Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team L’IMAD), Lianne Lippert (Movistar), Pieterse and Kerbaol, and opened a strong advantage over the yellow jersey group. 

The group swelled in size with just under 10km to go as Riejanne Markus (Lidl-Trek) and Le Court impressively bridged across a gap of around 40 seconds.

It was both a fast and tactical run-in to the finish in Tournon-sur-Rhône when it became clear that the escapees would hold off the yellow jersey group to contest the stage honours. 

Le Court made the first move with just over 4km remaining, and hesitation from her companions saw the Mauritius champion seemingly steal a march. 

However, Longo Borghini refused to budge, closing the gap before shutting down counterattacks from Kerbaol and Markus. 

The front group were locked in a stalemate with the flamme rouge in sight, allowing Markus to try once more. Le Court closed the gap with around 600m remaining, setting up for a sprint finish. 

Le Court opened up the sprint and managed to hold off the competition to claim a Tour stage victory for the second consecutive edition, ahead of Kerbaol and Pieterse. 

The yellow jersey group finished 28 seconds behind the stage winner, meaning Marlen Reusser (Movistar) remains the race leader by 12 seconds over Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ). 

As attritional as stage 6 was, the GC contenders will be well aware that Friday’s stage could prove to be the most pivotal of the 2026 Tour with a summit finish atop the mighty Mont Ventoux.

The peloton rolled out from Montbrison with a hot and hilly affair awaiting them. The first attack of the day came from Josie Nelson (Picnic PostNL). 

However, the British rider would not make the final selection, as she was reeled in by the chasing peloton before Loes Adegeest (Lidl-Trek), Nikola Nosková (Cofidis) and Katrine Aalerud (Uno-X Mobility) drew themselves clear on the Côte de la Prunerie.

The pace in the peloton remained high initially, as Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-ProTime) was among those briefly distanced. 

Eventually things settled enough to allow the breakaway to extend their advantage and for some of those distanced, including Van der Breggen to return to the peloton. 

It was established pretty quickly, though, that the breakaway trio wouldn’t be allowed much leeway, and the race dynamics changed significantly on the Col de Lalouvesc inside the final 60km.

The world champion Magdeleine Vallieres (EF Education-Oatly) took to the front with 54km remaining, setting a strong tempo for Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly), who was locked in and ready for action in second wheel.

Among those to find themselves distanced on the Lalouvesc ascent thanks to the damage from the world champion included Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal).

Paula Blasi (UAE Team L’IMAD) made an acceleration with 51km remaining, though the move was quickly marked by Célia Gery (FDJ United-SUEZ). Ultimately, the group of 32 riders would reach the summit together, where Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) claimed maximum points in her quest for the polka-dot jersey. 

On the descent of the Lalouvesc climb, the French champion Gery broke clear with 34km remaining and was quickly joined by a strong group that included Sarah Van Dam, Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team L'IMAD), Lianne Lippert (Movistar), Pieterse and Kerbaol. 

The group established an advantage of over 30 seconds as they hit the final categorised climb of the stage, the Côte de Boucieu-le-Roi, with 20km to go as youth classification leader Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon//SRAM) set a strong tempo in the peloton.

Femke De Vries (Visma | Lease a Bike), the Dutch team’s highest-placed rider in the GC after defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s struggles, found herself distanced early on the climb, with Marion Bunel waiting in support. 

Pieterse claimed maximum points yet again at the summit with just under 16km remaining, before Kerbaol attacked over the summit of the climb. However, the French rider was unable to break clear of her breakaway companions.

Riejanne Markus (Lidl-Trek) tried a stealth move from the yellow jersey group with 14km remaining, with Le Court responding. The duo opened up a gap, but had a 40-second chase ahead of them as the sextet out front had extended their advantage. 

However, the duo made up ground very quickly and joined the head of the race with just under 10km and shortly before the bonification sprint, where Le Court claimed six seconds, ahead of Longo Borghini, who took four.  

Behind in the peloton, even the European champion Vollering was spotted contributing to the chase, but the front group had enough of an advantage to contest the stage victory.