Squiban takes remarkable second Tour stage win while Le Court saves in yellow

Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) made in two from two stage wins, winning her second day of this year’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.

After winning Thursday’s sixth stage, Squiban made her way into the day’s 17 rider breakaway, attacking what remained of the group on the day’s final climb before the 17km descent into Chambéry. Having shown the world how well she could descend on stage six, Squiban crested the final club with a lead of 1:33 on the GC group, riding with apparent ease to a remarkable victory.

Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) attacked the GC group on the long descent to finish second, making it the second day running when a stage has finished with a French one-two. Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) was third.

Yellow jersey Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) was dropped on the same climb as Squiban made her move, ceding time to the other GC riders. However, the Mauritian champion was able to catch the leaders on the descent, defending her yellow jersey.

However, that climb was the first Alpine ascent of the race so far, and while it was not difficult Fenix-Deceuninck rode it hard, settling a pace Le Court was unable to cope with. While she got back on, her GC rivals will be encouraged as the two remaining stages are mountain top finishes, leaving Le Court no opportunity to get back on should she be dropped there.

Stage seven saw the peloton head into the mountains for the first of the race’s three days in the Alps. However, the 159.7km route between Bourg-en-Bresse and Chambéry provided a gentle introduction, with the opening 106km almost completely flat. The end of the stage was far from that, with second and fourth category climbs of the Côte de Saint-Franc and the Côte de Berland ahead of the day’s main feature.

The Col du Granier was only 8.9km, and the average gradient of 5.4% wasn’t too testing, but what came after was sure to provide real intrigue, a technical 17km descent to the line opening up opportunities for so many scenarios.

The day had been tipped as one for the breakaway, and sure enough, the battle to get away was opened immediately. Amazingly, after her stage-winning exploits on stage six, Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) was the first rider to attack, Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek) going with her, though the pair were quickly caught as the battle for the day’s breakaway was opened.

However, soon enough, the pair were part of a huge group of 17, which quickly built a lead of more than three minutes. In the group, the closest on GC was Eline Jansen (VolkerWessels), who started the day only 5:40 behind overall leader Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal), and her presence was sure to ensure they were kept on a relatively tight leash.

Plenty of the GC favourites had team mates in that leading group, there to provide assistance should the race come back together, or take their own chance if not. Chloé Dygert (Canyon//SRAM-zondacrypto), Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal), Marie Le Net (FDJ-SUEZ) and Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) were there for Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, Le Court, Demi Vollering and Anna van der Breggen respectively.

With 100km, the breakaway had settled at 2.40 and while it remained that way for a while, when the front group reached the first climb, it had been out to 4:15, down again and was back out to 4:00. 

That climb was the first defining moment of the stage, riders sliding out of both the break and the peloton. However, while the break had lost some riders, their lead increased, and they took 5:15 onto the fourth category Côte de Berland.

Just when it seemed the break might have been allowed to take the day, they began attacking each other, upsetting the rhythm. Though Maud Rijnbeek (VolkerWessels) eventually got a gap on the break, in the peloton Fenix-Deceuninck had upped the pace in the bunch, and the deficit began to drop dramatically. At the bottom of the Col du Granier, 26.1km from the line, Rijnbeek had 30 seconds on the rest of the break with the peloton a further 1.40 back. 

However, the race was now in a state of flux. Rijnbeek was caught by Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health), Marielle Meijering (Movistar), Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek), Chloé Dygert (Canyon//SRAM-zondacrypto) and Squiban, and once again the peloton dropped back slightly.

Four kilometres from the top, Squiban made a move only Meijering was able to go with her, before the French rider attacked again two kilometres later on her ride to a second win. Fenix-Deceuninck’s work on both the penultimate and climbs almost paid off when Le Court was dropped, though it remains to be seen how much it takes out of their riders for the days ahead.