The final day of racing at the Tour de France Femmes saw the peloton head to the climbs once more and a summit finish atop La Super Planche des Belles Filles, which would provide a challenging and stern test; and a final GC battle. It was a fast start to the stage with a really high pace and no breakaway able to establish itself until after the first climb, where Pfeiffer Georgi had done a great job to position Juliette Labous and Liane Lippert.
Covering a dangerous and large move, Lippert made it into the day’s breakaway while behind Labous conserved energy in the reduced yellow jersey group. The gap for Lippert’s break yo-yoed throughout the afternoon, reducing below one minute before ballooning back out to almost two. Nevertheless, as the race charged towards the final climb the gap began to tumble and it became clear the GC group would fight it out for the stage win.
With yellow jersey wearer Van Vleuten launching a vicious attack that no one could follow, Lippert dropped back to Labous and helped to set the tempo in her group. After a few kilometres on the front, Lippert swung off and Labous increased the pace once more, thinning down the group even further. Fighting all the way up the steep gradients it was a case of going as deep as you could until the finish. Labous gave it everything on the final gravelled inclines, crossing the line in a brilliant fifth place on the stage – a result which secured a superb fourth place on GC for the team.