Kasia Niewiadoma took a spectacular solo victory on the legendary Mont Ventoux, securing a slim overall lead in the Tour de France Femmes after leaving behind her fellow race favourites Marlen Reusser and Demi Vollering.
“It’s hard to describe my feelings because I’m still blown away by what just happened,” Niewiadoma, who won the yellow jersey in 2024, said of the first Tour stage victory of her career.
In one of the most memorable climbing performances on the fearsome Giant of Provence, the 31-year-old Polish rider took back the best part of two minutes on Reusser, who had led the race since Tuesday’s individual time trial. With two stages remaining Niewiadoma leads overall by 15sec from Vollering, the 2023 champion. Reusser trails by 39sec in third after stage seven.
Vollering’s initial attack, which came on one of the climb’s few hairpins, the Virage du Bois, was promptly closed down by Reusser and Niewiadoma, who, just as they had at Mont Brouilly on stage five, stuck doggedly to the Dutch rider’s wheel. Their collective effort was enough to force the issue, and the trio rode ahead to contest the stage.
Niewiadoma’s decisive acceleration came just under 10km from the summit, after she, Reusser and Vollering had moved ahead of the front group. Vollering and Reusser seemed more focused on each other, hesitating as Niewiadoma went clear. That sealed their fate. Since its rebirth in 2022, Niewiadoma has always finished on the podium of the Tour, and her epic duel with Vollering on Alpe d’Huez in 2024 may yet be replayed in this weekend’s racing in the hills around Nice.
“It means the world to me to get the yellow jersey by winning on the Ventoux,” she said. “A lot of work went into it. Each year you have to come to the Tour even stronger than the year before because the level is going up so much.”
Niewiadoma’s pace took her clear on the approach to Chalet Reynard, while Reusser and Vollering appeared to be riding through treacle. In fact, it was more of a tactical stalemate that was finally broken when Vollering attacked Reusser in the final kilometre to finish second on the stage. Reusser crossed the line in a weary fourth place but there was plenty of suffering elsewhere on a stage in which a number of big names fell by the wayside.
Among those to leave even before the stage started was Anna van der Breggen of SD Worx-Protime, who dropped out on Friday morning. The 36-year-old Dutch rider, who finished second overall in the Vuelta and third in the Giro earlier this year, was described as “not feeling at her best”. “We kept hoping she would start to feel better as the race progressed, but unfortunately that improvement never came. We decided not to take any unnecessary risks and to give her the rest she needs,” said the sports director Danny Stam.
Even on the less arduous slopes, before the notoriously steep bend at Saint-Estève that signals the start of the official climb, the peloton was dramatically reduced. Multiple riders fell away as the gradient increased. Early casualties of the pacesetting included the defending champion, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, and Kim Le Court, winner of stage six, both of whom definitively waved goodbye to any lingering thoughts of a high overall finish. Ferrand-Prévot’s Visma Lease-a-Bike teammate Femke de Vries was another who suffered as the Ventoux’s gradients bit into tired legs and the pair joined forces in a bid to limit their losses.
At the front, Reusser’s Movistar team sought to control any attacks, but Vollering’s FDJ United-Suez proved equally as resilient. Noemi Rüegg made a huge effort to set the pace for the EF Education-Oatly team leader, Cédrine Kerbaol, but was eventually swept away by Vollering’s accelerations. Niewiadoma spent time training on the Ventoux in June with her husband, the former professional Taylor Phinney, saying she sold the idea to him as a “romantic getaway”.
There may be little love lost, however, between Niewiadoma and her old rival Vollering in the Tour’s final 48 hours. “We have a strong team,” Niewiadoma said, “but I’m expecting a massive fight for everything – points, bonus seconds, everything – because the gap is so small.”
