Tour de France Femmes Stage 9: Demi Vollering Seals Final GC Victory with Sublime Solo Stage Win

Demi Vollering sealed her second career Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift title in style on Sunday, dropping her closest GC rival Kasia Niewiadoma close to the summit of the Col d’Eze and then plummeting down the descent to finish well ahead.

Niewiadoma was the aggressor on the fourth and final ascent of the climb, dragging Vollering clear, but was unable to detach the Dutchwoman. They worked together for several kilometers, Niewiadoma putting in a number of unsuccessful digs but having no answer when Vollering kicked inside the final 700 meters of the climb.

She took chances on the descent but stayed upright, racing into Nice solo for the second day running and landing her second stage win of the race. More importantly, she padded her overall lead and ran out the winner of the race, following up on his 2023 success.

That makes her the first-ever repeat winner in the history of the event.

Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) was caught by a chase group on the run into the line and took third just behind Paula Blasi (UAE Team l’Imad), 1:04 back, and ahead of Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek). That sealed second place overall, 1:18 behind Vollering (FDJ United-Suez).

Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team l’Imad) moved up to third overall after Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team) was dropped earlier in the stage and then crashed.

The GC win continues a remarkable season for Vollering. Prior to her three stage wins in the Tour she won the Giro d’Italia Women, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, La Flèche Wallonne, the Tour of Flanders, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the Setmana Ciclista Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana.

That marks 14 wins in 29 days of racing.

Asked what she thought as she raced to her second solo win in two days, Vollering mentioned her teammate Celia Géry, who was accused by Niewiadoma on Saturday of pushing her towards the barrier, as well as others.

“I thought I’ve never won in the yellow jersey before, I thought about my team. I thought about Celia, who had a really, really rough night. I thought about all the work I did before this. I thought about all the people who are standing behind me, working together with Specialized on the new bike. They made this bike to do these kind of things, to be the fastest downhill, to be the fastest uphill. It’s incredible the people I have around.”

Reusser loses third overall

Stage 9 of the Tour de France was an arduous finale, with no less than four ascents of the Col d’Eze in Nice. The tension was high following the controversy of stage 8, and a huge battle for yellow was in store.

Climbing began from the drop of the flag with Maëva Squiban (UAE Team l’Imad) leading across the summit but being recaptured on the descent.

Paula Ostiz (Movistar Team) and Malwina Mul (Cofidis) leaped clear and took top points at the intermediate sprint in Nice, but Lorena Weibes raced in behind for third and, in doing so, sealed her victory in the green jersey competition. The two leaders were caught with 73km to go.

The next ascent of the Col d’Eze saw Bäckstedt drive the pace at the front despite an earlier crash on the first descent. She put several big names out the back, including world champion Magdeleine Vallieres (EF Education-Oatly), French champ Célia Gery (FDJ United – Suez) and, surprisingly, Marlen Reusser. The Movistar Team rider had started the day third overall but blew and went backwards.

Reusser then crashed on the descent with approximately 60km left to cover but was fortunately able to continue.

Holmgren impresses, Vollering wins

Canadian rider Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) leaped clear on the third ascent of the Col d’Eze, striking out with 46km to go. She steadily gained time over the GC group, which was led by Vollering’s teammate Juliette Berthet, and went over the summit 1:10 ahead of the chasers.

Her gap was down to 35 seconds starting the final ascent of the Col d’Eze, and continued to fall when Antonia Niedermaier was leading behind for her Canyon-SRAM teammate Kasia Niewiadoma. They caught Holmgren with 19.2km to go, 3.9km from the top of the climb, and Niewiadoma immediately attacked.

Vollering followed her with a seated acceleration, with first Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team l’Imad) and then Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) trying to bridge but being unable to do so.

Niewiadoma initially did most of the riding but Vollering also contributed at times. She put in a big attack with 3.2km left but Niewiadoma was able to follow, and then launched her own counter. However she had no answer when Vollering kicked hard inside 700 meters to go, with the Dutch rider pulling further and further ahead and going over the summit well clear.

Niewiadoma was caught by the chase group on the run in to Nice but these riders could do nothing to stop Vollering’s time gain. She hit the line 1:04 ahead of that group, extending her overall advantage and sealing her second career Tour de France Femmes victory.

“It’s not only the dream to win in yellow here, to win a second Tour de France,” she said, “but it’s the dream to live this life, to work hard together with people with a lot of passion. I think that’s the whole dream.”