Key events
89km to go: Chabbey crosses the line first at the intermediate sprint and gets 25 green jersey points. Chabbey and Zanetti’s lead increases to 40secs as the first categorised climb looms.
94km to go: In the polka dot jersey, Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez) bridges across to Zanetti (Uno-X Mobility). The pair are 12secs ahead as they ride towards the intermediate sprint. It’s been a speedy start, with an average of 45km/h.
98km to go: Coston is caught and Uno-X Mobility’s Linda Zanetti shoots off. She’s managed to open up a gap of 15secs.
108km to go: Green jersey leader Lorena Wiebes has a go at getting away, and heading towards the intermediate sprint without the rest of the peloton, but is caught shortly with three other riders that had gone with her.
Not long after, French champion Marie Le Net (FDJ-Suez) is one of 10 riders who attack. Again no luck. Morgane Coston (Roland Le Dévoluy) goes solo and manages a slender gap of 10secs on the bunch.
Cycling Weekly have a great piece asking the Tour de France Femmes questions we all wonder about but don’t want to ask – or as the publication puts it ‘dumb questions’, although I don’t think they are. This is a great example: columnist Marley Blonsky asked Veronica Ewers, a pro cyclist for EF Education-Oatly, how riders pee during the race. Ewers explained:
I personally am terrified of going pee during a race because, for us women, it’s a little bit more difficult … We have to sort of fully unclothe to go to the bathroom, which takes a bit more time.
If I needed to pee, I would say it in the radio to my team: ‘Hey, I need to pee. Does anyone else need to?’. Because it’s better to stop with other people so that you can work together to get back to the peloton.
In longer races, usually you’ll hear somebody in the peloton yell ‘pee stop’, and then half the bunch stops for a pee. That’s generally how it goes. We have to make sure that we’re out of towns a good amount to do that, just for public decency, which I can definitely understand.
155km to go: Despite a flurry of early attacks, the 133 riders are together and heading out of Clermont-Ferrand on flat roads. At 30km in, there will be an intermediate sprint with points on offer for the green jersey classification.
If you’re into the Tour de France Femmes fantasty team selections, you might be interested to know that the most selected riders for today’s stage win are Demi Vollering, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Katarzyna Niewiadoma.
The racing has begun!
122km to go: And we’re off! The riders set off as the race flag is dropped and the attacks come rapidly.
Valentina Cavallar and Mie Bjørndal Ottestad withdraw from the race
Arkéa-B&B Hotels have announced that their rider Valentina Cavallar will not start stage six of the Tour de France Femmes due to illness. Additionally, Uno X-Mobility said Mie Bjørndal Ottestad would not be starting today. That means that Uno X-Mobility now only have three riders left in the race: Susanne Andersen, Linda Zanetti and Teuntje Beekhuis.
Today’s rollout has begun
Stage six of the Tour de France Femmes 2025 is under way. The peloton have rolled out from Clermont-Ferrand. There’s a 9.7 km neutralised section before the racing begins.
Here is the route profile of stage six:
Allow Instagram content?
This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.
Martin Pegan
Sarah Gigante has an infectious energy that shines through whether she is saluting after blowing away her rivals on the toughest of mountain stages, or celebrating every day as much as her successes on social media. The Australian cyclist even keeps her smile beaming while reflecting on a recent health concern that threatened to bring her promising career to a standstill. But hidden just beneath the surface is a killer instinct to “make others hurt”, as well as a steely determination to overcome challenges on and off the bike that have helped lift Gigante into the cycling form of her life.
The 24-year-old is still coming to terms with the thrill and pride taken from finishing on the podium at the Giro d’Italia Donne when she was third overall behind winner Elisa Longo Borghini. Gigante finished 1min 11sec behind the Italian home favourite and defending champion, with Switzerland’s Marien Reusser in between, but claimed a pair of spectacular stage wins when soloing away on mountain-top finishes and cemented her place as the best climber in the race with the Queen of the Mountains jersey.
In case you missed this yesterday, here is Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) working on her impressive football skills before stage five:
Allow Instagram content?
This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.
And who’s wearing which jersey:
Yellow jersey – Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 15hrs 7mins 14secs
Green jersey – Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), 208pts
Polka dot jersey – Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez), 11pts
White jersey – Julie Bego (Cofidis), 15hrs 9mins 24secs
Here’s a reminder of the top ten on GC after stage five:
Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 15hrs 7mins 14secs
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike), +18secs
Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), +23secs
Katarzyna Niewiadoma Phinney (Canyon/SRAM), +24secs
Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx Protime), +27secs
Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), +37secs
Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck), +45secs
Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal), +55secs
Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), +1min 4secs
Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly), +1min 16secs
Stage six: Clermont-Ferrand to Ambert, 124km
Here’s a look at today’s stage, Thursday 31 July: Clermont-Ferrand to Ambert, 123.7km, with the race director of the Tour de France Femmes, Marion Rousse:
The stage, which starts in the huge Place de Jaude in the heart of Clermont-Ferrand, will be run entirely in the department of Puy-de-Dôme. Beginning on fairly flat roads, it will head to Courpière, where things will get serious. The ascent of the Col du Béal (10.2km at 5.6%) will be quickly followed by those of the Col de Chansert (6.3km at 5.5%) and the Côte de Valcivieres. Running through a wild landscape of volcanic rock, there will be no respite at all on the road to Ambert.
Preamble
The mountains are calling. Today’s 123.7km stage will take the riders towards the terrain of the Central Massif, with four categorised climbs and about 2,350m of ascent on the menu. There are two category three climbs, one category two and one category one, all within a 60km stretch before a finish in Ambert.
While the stage will start on fast, flat roads out of Clermont-Ferrand, the peloton will need to find their climbing legs pronto. This is one of three mountain stages of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift this year, with the other two coming up this weekend.
So, who will be victorious today? The GC contenders will surely want a piece of the action. Winner of yesterday’s stage and in the yellow jersey, Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) is looking strong, but Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) are also ones to keep an eye on. As is defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto), who excels on this kind of parcours. Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) won’t want to miss out either.
As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on today’s stage and the Tour de France Femmes in general. You can drop me an email via the link at the top of the page.
Before today’s stage starts at 2pm CET/1pm BST, here’s a summary of yesterday’s action:
