Pauline Ferrand-Prévot claimed the biggest win of her road career with an emphatic solo victory on the final stage of the 2025 Tour de France Femmes, attacking 6km from the finish in Châtel to take both the stage and the overall title.
The 124km stage from Praz-sur-Arly to Châtel was anything but ceremonial. From the first descent, chaos ruled. The peloton fractured on the long downhill out of town, with the yellow jersey group split early. Both Ferrand-Prévot and Sarah Gigante, her nearest rival on GC, were caught on the wrong side of the split. Visma-Lease a Bike and AG Insurance-Soudal had to chase full gas to bring their leaders back, eventually making contact just before the Côte d’Arâches-la-Frasse.
The first attack came from Femke Gerritse and Anna van der Breggen, with SD Worx-Protime clearly looking to force the race early. When Lucinda Brand and Lotte Kopecky bridged across, three SD Worx riders were in the break, and Van der Breggen used that as a springboard to go solo before the first categorised climb. She crested Côte d’Arâches-la-Frasse with a small gap, taking the maximum QoM points ahead of Maëva Squiban and Demi Vollering.
Photo Credit: GettyBehind, the peloton was already showing cracks. Elise Chabbey, the polka dot jersey, was distanced, but still in contention for the QoM classification. As the road continued to rise and fall, riders were scattered all over the course, and the yellow jersey group began to firm up around the main GC favourites. Julie Bego, fighting for the white jersey earlier in the race, was nearly 23 minutes behind by this point, a sign of just how hard the day had become.
Ferrand-Prévot looked calm as the peloton headed toward the HC Col de Joux Plane, while Gigante was being paced back to the lead group by Justine Ghekiere. Van der Breggen continued her solo ride out front and built a lead that hovered around 1 minute 40 seconds, even through the intermediate sprint in Morillon, which she won ahead of Lorena Wiebes. That intermediate also confirmed Wiebes as the green jersey winner, with an unassailable points tally.
Photo Credit: A.S.O./Thomas MaheuxThe Joux Plane climb began to shatter the race entirely. AG Insurance-Soudal upped the tempo with Ghekiere, and several riders including Evita Muzic and Ricarda Bauernfeind dropped out of contention. Vollering attacked, bringing out Niewiadoma-Phinney, Ferrand-Prévot, and Fisher-Black. Gigante responded with her own accelerations, but the group kept reshuffling as Włodarczyk and Labous were repeatedly distanced and brought back.
As the climb steepened, Gigante launched again, briefly gapping Labous and Włodarczyk, but on the descent, things began to unravel. Niewiadoma-Phinney took control on the technical downhill, with Vollering on her wheel, and Gigante quickly lost touch. She would never regain the front, losing over three minutes by the finish.
At the summit of the Joux Plane, Van der Breggen still led, taking full QoM points. Vollering followed ahead of Niewiadoma-Phinney, Fisher-Black, Ferrand-Prévot and Gigante. The descent saw Van der Breggen’s lead start to erode as the GC group, now five-strong, pushed hard to close the gap. At 40km to go, she was just 40 seconds ahead, with Gigante already distanced by almost a minute.
Photo Credit: A.S.O./Thomas MaheuxVan der Breggen was eventually caught just before the Col du Corbier, ending her long solo effort. Labous had returned to the front group and immediately went to the front to help her FDJ-Suez teammate Vollering. Chabbey, meanwhile, was mathematically confirmed as the QoM winner as the remaining big points went to Vollering, Ferrand-Prévot and Niewiadoma-Phinney at the summit of the Corbier.
That final climb proved decisive. Vollering attacked 7km from the finish, prompting Ferrand-Prévot to respond with a ferocious counter at 6km to go. Within moments, she had opened a 10-second lead. Behind her, Vollering, Niewiadoma-Phinney and Fisher-Black hesitated, looking at each other, while Włodarczyk and Labous were dropped.
Ferrand-Prévot surged through the final kilometres, holding 15 seconds with 3km to go and 24 seconds under the flamme rouge. Her rivals behind chased, but the time gaps only grew. By the line, she had taken 20 seconds from Vollering, 23 on Niewiadoma-Phinney and Fisher-Black, and 33 on Włodarczyk.
Photo Credit: A.S.O./Pauline BalletGigante, riding alone since the descent off the Joux Plane, crossed the line more than three minutes down, her podium challenge fading away. Labous came in shortly after, having fought to limit losses and likely securing seventh overall.
Ferrand-Prévot’s win marked her second stage victory of the race and confirmed her as the fourth different winner in the current era of the Tour de France Femmes, following Annemiek van Vleuten, Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney. She also became the first French winner of the race since its modern relaunch and the first rider to win both Paris-Roubaix and the Tour in the same season.
Her success also capped a dominant weekend for French riders, with Maeva Squiban and Ferrand-Prévot winning the final three stages between them, and four French women finishing in the top 10 overall.
Photo Credit: A.S.O./Thomas Maheux2025 Tour de France Femmes Stage 9 result
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2025 Tour de France Femmes GC result
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Main photo credit: Getty
