After so much Dutch stage and GC domination in the three editions, the French finally got in on the fun at the Tour de France Femmes on Friday. Last year’s best young rider Cédrine Kerbaol took a big win, leaping over Puck Pieterse and Kristen Faulkner into second place. Yellow jersey Katarzyna Niewiadoma is 16 seconds ahead of Kerbaol. Simone Boilard was the top Canadian at 52nd and is also the top Canadian on GC at 39th.
The Course
The first stage to take place entirely within France contained five categorized climbs, four of the them in the latter half of 159.2 km. A two-step climb–Cat. 2 La Roche du Prêtre followed by Cat. 3 Côte des Fins–arrived before the run-in to the finish in Morteau.
🚲 Stage 6 / Étape 6 🚲
🚩 Remiremont
🏁 Morteau
📏 159,2 km
⏰ 11:30 CEST > 15:58 CEST
⛰ 1×2️⃣c, 3×3️⃣c, 1×4️⃣c
💚 km 99,9 #TDFF2024 pic.twitter.com/tP01FknK9y— Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) August 16, 2024
The largest breakaway of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes bounded away. Of the 18 riders, Marianne Vos and Justine Ghekiere were the best placed riders on GC, and by the Côte de Laviron, Ghekiere had taken over the Queen of the Mountains lead from Silvia Persico, who grabbed it from Puck Pieterse earlier in the day. When they started La Roche du Prêtre, the fugitives were 1:20 clear of the Movistar-led peloton.
Immediately, the breakaway fragmented. Kiwi escapee Niamh Fisher-Black crested first solo. Olympic Games time trial gold medalist Grace Brown reached Fisher-Black, consolidating Trans-Tasman relations. Ghekiere joined in as well.
Cows, caught up in the yellow jersey fever, ran alongside the peloton.
The breakaway wouldn’t survive Côte des Fins. After the peloton caught it, both Vos and second-place Faulkner suffered on the climb. Pieterse scored maximum QOM points at the peak. Fourth-place Kerbaol and eighth-place Pauliena Rooijakkers attacked before the descent.
Kerbaol dumped her companion and hit the flat run-in to the finish 39 seconds ahead of the yellow jersey peloton. With the race lead on the line, her team got pretty excited.
Tout pareil https://t.co/naQUulefgi
— Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) August 16, 2024
She hung on to win by 21 seconds and her bonus seconds propelled her into second place.
Saturday heads into the mountains, with a sharp two-step climb as a summit finish.
2024 Tour de France Femmes…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…