Tour de France Femmes - Vollering wins the most difficult Tour stage on the Tourmalet

Demi Vollering has won the most difficult stage of this year's Tour de France Femmes and thus taken over the overall leader's yellow jersey.

The 26-year-old Dutchwoman put in a remarkable solo on the way to the famous Col du Tourmalet and outsprinted all her rivals on the final stretch of the 89.8 kilometres. Belgian rider Lotte Kopecky collapsed on the final climb and lost her yellow jersey. Before the Col du Tourmalet, the cyclists had to conquer the Col d'Aspin.

Katarzyna Niewiadoma from Poland (1:58 minutes behind) and the Dutch defending champion Annemiek van Vleuten (2:34 minutes behind) completed the podium. Ricarda Bauernfeind was the best German in tenth place in the daily classification. The final 22.6 kilometre individual time trial is scheduled for Sunday in Pau.

The race leader Vollering, who finished second overall last year, will be the favourite to win the overall title. Kopecky has held the overall lead since her one-day victory in the first stage in Clermont-Ferrand and has now had to relinquish it for the first time.

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