Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance - Soudal) won stage 7 of the Tour de France Femmes. Wearing the polka-dot jersey, the 28-year-old Belgian was part of a break of six that went away with over 80km to go. Profiting from the help of her teammate Julie Van de Velde, Ghekiere squirreled away QOM points throughout the stage and went solo on the Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt with 13.5km to go.
Ghekiere started the finishing climb with a two-minute advantage and held off the chasers to win the stage. Maëva Squiban (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) had attacked from the peloton and finished second at 1:15 minutes.
Yellow jersey Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) attacked just before the flamme rouge, and only Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) could follow her. On the last metres, Vollering sprinted away to finish third at 1:23 minutes, reducing her GC deficit by four bonus seconds.
“I really have no words. I think I’m dreaming, it’s crazy. I want to thank my team today, the whole team was at the front and protected me well and helped me to get in the breakaway. And then especially really big thanks to Julie, she rode a really strong race, she did everything for me to get me in the best position to start this climb and to save as much energy as possible. This victory is also for her,” Ghekiere said.
“When I took the last points [on the Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt], I was really dead and I thought, ‘yeah, I just go my own pace’. And I could stay away, I can’t believe it, I really can’t believe it. I’m really looking forward to riding the last stage of this Tour in this skinsuit and with a win already, it’s just a dream.”
How it unfolded
At 166.4km, stage 7 was the longest of the Tour de France Femmes and included five categorised climbs. After the crashes of recent days, several riders did not start or abandoned the race during the stage, including double stage winner Charlotte Kool (DSM-Firmenich PostNL).
No attacks succeeded in getting away in the two hours, and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) won the QOM sprint atop the first-category Col de la Croix de la Serra, temporarily reducing her deficit to Ghekiere by two points.
However, Ghekiere and Van de Velde then made it into the break of the day together with green jersey Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), Sara Martín (Movistar Team), Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health), and Sarah Roy (Cofidis).
As their advantage over the peloton increased to over two minutes, Vos became the virtual GC leader, but the 37-year-old was more interested in winning the intermediate sprint to bolster her lead in the points classification.
Uno-X Mobility riders Anniina Ahtosalo and Marte Berg Edseth attacked from the peloton just before the intermediate sprint, and Berg Edseth continued on her own afterwards in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to bridge to the front group which was 5:23 minutes ahead at the top of the Côte de Cercier with 55km to go.
16km from the finish, the Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt began. Van de Velde did one last turn for her teammate, dropping Roy and Edwards before swinging off herself, and Ghekiere immediately attacked, leaving Vos and Martín behind.
At the top, Ghekiere was 2:32 minutes ahead of a peloton that had been reduced to less than 30 riders, and she was still two minutes ahead as she passed Le Grand-Bornand before starting the seven-kilometre finishing climb Montée du Chinaillon. Although she struggled on the climb, Ghekiere could celebrate her stage win in style, keeping a gap of 1:15 minutes at the end.
In the peloton, Vollering made a first move on the flat between the two climbs but could not get away. Her teammate Niamh Fisher-Black then set the pace until Squiban took her chance and rode away from the favourites who were still looking at each other, quickly gaining a 30-second advantage.
Évita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) tried to get away with about five kilometres to go but was shadowed by Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT), Pieterse, Niewiadoma, and Vollering, closely followed by the rest of the group.
Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) was next to attack, just before the 4km mark, and quickly got a gap, prompting Niewiadoma to take up the chase together with Vollering. Pieterse, Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek), Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal), and Muzic followed the two GC favourites.
Mavi García (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) could bridge across, but once Rooijakkers was reeled in, the pace dropped again, allowing Juliette Labous (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) to come back from behind, soon followed by a group of about ten riders.
Realini tried to attack but could not get a gap, and her teammate Lucinda Brand made the next move, followed by Gigante. Niewiadoma counter-attacked, and only Vollering could follow her as Pieterse had to let a gap open at the flamme rouge.
Squiban finished runner-up, and Vollering sprinted away from Niewiadoma on the last 100 metres to take the bonus seconds for third place, clawing back four seconds in GC ahead of the final stage. Pieterse finished five seconds later, moving up to second overall at 27 seconds.
By winning four of the day’s five QOM sprints, Ghekiere increased her lead in the mountain classification to 16 points over Pieterse, but with 35 points on offer on stage 8, she will still have to defend the polka-dot jersey on Sunday.
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