Tour de France Femmes: Vollering takes the yellow jersey with victory on the Tourmalet

In the dense Pyrenean fog, the Dutchwoman attacked out of the group of favourites four and a half kilometres before the finish, which then fell apart completely. At this point, only Kasia Niewiadoma was still ahead of her, but the Polish rider, who had already broken away on the descent from the Col d'Aspin 25 kilometres before the finish, was also unable to follow the winner.

Annemiek van Vleuten, who was Vollering's closest rival for overall victory in the 2nd Tour de France Femmes, finished two and a half minutes behind at the summit and was third on the day behind Niewiadoma. This is also the new order in the overall standings before the final time trial. Given the large gaps over the 23 kilometres against the clock, it is unlikely that anything will change in the top three.

Tour de France Femmes 2023 - Results: The top 10 of stage 7

1. Vollering (SD Worx) 2:52:43
2. Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM) + 1:58
3. van Vleuten (Movistar) +2:34
4. Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance - Soudal - Quick-Step) +2:43
5. Labous (dsm - firmenich) +2:46
6. Kopecky (SD Worx) +3:32
7. Santesteban (Jayco - AlUla) +5:24
8. Cavalli (FDJ - Suez) +5:43
9. Ludwig (FDJ - Suez) +5:46
10. Bauernfeind (Canyon//SRAM) +6:57

The overall ranking

1. Vollering (SD Worx) 24:48:10
2. Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM) +1:50
3. van Vleuten (Movistar) +2:28
4. Kopecky (SD Worx) +2:35
5. Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance - Soudal - Quick-Step) +2:39
6. Lobous (dsm - firmenich) +3:41
7. Santesteban (Jayco - AlUla) +6:23
8. Ludwig (FDJ - Suez) +6:42
9. Bauernfeind (Canyon//SRAM) +7:42
10. Spratt (Lidl-Trek) +8:18

The final kilometres of stage 7 also resembled a time trial. After the Vollering attack, the top 10 all rode their own race. This only began on the 90-kilometre stage at the foot of the Col d'Aspin, just 50 kilometres before the finish.

Niewiadoma in front for a long time

There, the peloton entered the twelve-kilometre climb as one. There, only van Vleuten's Team Movistar set the pace and quickly split the peloton into its individual parts. After just a few kilometres, however, four of the reigning Tour winner's helpers were used up, and Liane Lippert, who had crashed again earlier in the day, was also unable to follow after a final increase in pace. So van Vleuten attacked on the Aspin - only Vollering and Niewiadoma were able to follow.

>> Kasia Niewiadoma: "Tourmalet shows who is the strongest"

The Polish rider pulled away on the descent, gaining almost a minute on the two Dutch riders, who were soon caught by the chasing pack. The same fate then threatened Niewiadoma on the 17.7 kilometre climb - at least almost. Just a few metres before Marlen Reusser had closed the gap for her captain Vollering, she dropped back. Apart from that, however, no one felt obliged to challenge Niewiadoma, so that she was able to extend her lead to 45 seconds again and hold it until 4000 metres before the finish.

Then Vollering came along and made short work of everything. The 26-year-old is now on course to win the stage race. Ricarda Bauernfeind once again ensured a good German result, finishing tenth on the day, albeit almost seven minutes behind Vollering, to move up one place in the overall standings and is now ninth.