Demi Vollering takes Tour de France Femmes lead as defending champion Ferrand-Prévot withdraws

Defending champion withdraws

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, the 34-year-old French rider who won the 2025 Tour de France Femmes, withdrew from this year's race before Saturday's penultimate stage from Sisteron to Nice. Her Visma-Lease a Bike team announced on X that she was not feeling well and, after consultation with medical staff, would not start Stage 8. She was not present at her team's presentation before the stage.

Unfortunately, Pauline was not feeling well this morning. In consultation with the medical staff, it has been decided that she will not start today. We wish Pauline a speedy recovery!

Ferrand-Prévot sat 14th in the general classification, 14:37 behind yellow jersey holder Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney. Her title defence had effectively ended on Wednesday's Stage 5, where she finished 19th and conceded a gap she herself called "irrécupérable." She was 18th on the Mont Ventoux summit finish on Friday, crossing the line more than ten minutes behind stage winner Niewiadoma-Phinney.

The French rider won the 2025 Tour with a long-range solo effort on the queen stage's Col de la Madeleine, also winning the final stage to finish 3:42 ahead of Demi Vollering. This year she has been unable to replicate that form, finishing 19th on the first decisive GC day, 2:35 behind stage winner Vollering. After further deficits in the individual time trial, she sat five minutes behind in the GC and declared her title defence "over." She has yet to win in 2026 and finished 35th in the Vuelta a España Femenina.

Vollering strikes on the Promenade des Anglais

Demi Vollering launched a late attack on Saturday's eighth stage, upping the pace on the fourth and final small climb with approximately six kilometres remaining. Niewiadoma-Phinney cracked and sat back in her saddle as the Dutch rider surged ahead along Nice's Promenade des Anglais. Neither Niewiadoma-Phinney nor former Giro d'Italia winner Elisa Longo Borghini could close the gap.

Vollering raised her arms at the line, then sat on the ground panting heavily as she tried to catch her breath. Longo Borghini finished second and Niewiadoma-Phinney third, both 17 seconds behind. The victory gave Vollering the yellow jersey heading into Sunday's final stage, with an eight-second overall lead over the 2024 champion. Vollering, the 2023 Tour winner, won the Giro d'Italia earlier this year, completing a hat trick of Grand Tour wins. Niewiadoma-Phinney had taken the yellow jersey with a solo win up Mont Ventoux on Friday and rode a yellow bike to match on Stage 8.

GC battle set for final day

Before Stage 8, Niewiadoma held a 15-second lead over Vollering, with Swiss rider Marlen Reusser third at 39 seconds. Vollering's stage win overturned that deficit and put her in the leader's jersey.

Sunday's Stage 9 features four climbs of the Col d'Èze, a steep 7km slope nestled in the hills overlooking Monaco. Two years ago, Niewiadoma-Phinney beat Vollering on a final-day mountain stage to win the race by just four seconds, a result Vollering will aim to avoid repeating.