Tour de France Femmes Stage 7: Vollering Takes Command 

There is no doubt who is queen of the Queen Stage, and this year’s Tour de France Femmes, as SDWorx captain Demi Vollering rode away from the World Champion and defending TDFF winner Annemiek van Vleuten of Movistar and Canyon/SRAM’s Kasia Niewiadoma to seize control of the 7th stage and the maillot jaune. The leading trio survived the Col d’Aspin together and began the final climb to the Col du Tourmalet where the overall title was surely on the line. Overnight leader, Vollering’s teammate Lotte Kopecky, was not expected to hang on, and sure enough it was left to Vollering to keep SDWorx in the dirver’s seat. She did that by close to two minutes over Niewiadoma and more over the rest of the field. Heading into tomorrow’s time trial, Vollering has a commanding 1.50 lead, which she is expected to defend en route to becoming the race’s second-ever winner.

Results

1. VOLLERING Demi, Team SD Worx – Protime 2:52:43
2. NIEWIADOMA Katarzyna, Canyon//SRAM Racing, at 1:58
3. VAN VLEUTEN Annemiek, Movistar Team, at 2:34
4. MOOLMAN Ashleigh, AG Insurance – Soudal Quick-Step, at 2:43
5. LABOUS Juliette, Team dsm-firmenich, at 2:46
6. KOPECKY Lotte, Team SD Worx – Protime, at 3:32
7. SANTESTEBAN Ane, Team Jayco AlUla, at 5:24
8. CAVALLI Marta, FDJ – SUEZ, 5:43
9. LUDWIG Cecilie Uttrup, FDJ – SUEZ, 5:46
10. BAUERNFEIND Ricarda, Canyon//SRAM Racing, 6:57

GC

1. VOLLERING Demi, Team SD Worx – Protime, 24:48:10
2. NIEWIADOMA Katarzyna, Canyon//SRAM Racing, at 1:50
3. VAN VLEUTEN Annemiek, Movistar Team, at 2:28
4. KOPECKY Lotte, Team SD Worx – Protime, at 2:35
5. MOOLMAN Ashleigh, AG Insurance – Soudal Quick-Step, at 2:39
6. LABOUS Juliette, Team dsm-firmenich, 3:41
7. SANTESTEBAN Ane, Team Jayco AlUla, 6:23
8. LUDWIG Cecilie Uttrup, FDJ – SUEZ, 6:42
9. BAUERNFEIND Ricarda, Canyon//SRAM Racing, 7:42
10. SPRATT Amanda, Lidl – Trek, 8:18

Lannemazan – Tourmalet 89.8 km

Short and brutal GC decider in the Pýrenées, with the iconic Tourmalet as the big centerpiece. Don’t be surprised if the main selection happens already on the Aspin though.

Expected finish time: 19:05-19:25 CEST

Octavia Lapize: Demi Vollering

Feels completely weird to make this prediction but the general sense really is that Demi has finally reached a climbing level slightly better than a somewhat fading Van Vleuten.

Official site , Startlist