Saturday’s penultimate day of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift was the queen stage, a taxing undertaking in the Alps where Paris-Roubaix champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot triumphed atop the Col de la Madeleine to pluck the yellow jersey from the shoulders of Kim Le Court. The French rider, winner of last year’s Olympic Games mountain bike gold, takes a 2:37 lead into Sunday’s final stage. Magdeleine Vallieres was in the day’s breakaway and placed 13th, jumping up into the GC top-20.
The GC Situation Overnight
Liège-Bastogne-Liège champion Kim Le Court saved her yellow jersey on Friday, but would she be able to defend on an HC-rated clamber? Ferrand-Prévot, Vollering, Katarzyna Niewiadoma and Anna van der Breggen were all within 35 seconds.
1) Kimberley (Le Court) Pienaar (Mauritius/AG Insurance–Soudal) 22:28:31
2) Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (France/Visma-Lease a Bike) +0:26
3) Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Poland/Canyon-SRAM) +0:30
4) Demi Vollering (The Netherlands/FDJ-Suez) +0:31
5) Anna van der Breggen (The Netherlands/SD Worx-Protime) +0:35
Magdeleine Vallieres, who has raced all four editions of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, was top Canadian in 27th. Last year Olivia Baril was Canada’s top rider on GC at 41st.
The Course
Saturday’s penultimate stage was an 111-km affair ending in an HC summit finish on the famed Col de la Madeleine, 18.9 km of 8 percent climbed from the narrow Notre Dame de Cruet/Montgellafrey side road.
Cat. 1 Col de Plainpalais arrived right out of the gate, and the action was hot straight away on the second-longest climb in the 2025 edition. Le Court reacted to several moves that didn’t come from her closest rivals. Vallieres was part of a breakaway that finally got clear in the middle of the climb.
At the top of Plainpalais polka dot Elise Chabbey and double stage winner Maeva Squiban fought for the KOM points with Chabbey prevailing. Chabbey’s lead was 14 points over Squiban. The Vallieres-Chabbey group contained Chabbey’s (and Vollering’s) teammate Évita Muzic, and soon the melodic ninth-place rider was leading the virtual GC.
On the descent off the plateau, Le Court crashed in a corner and was a minute behind her rivals as the race went through the intermediate sprint. A letting up of the pace allowed her to return to the peloton.
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