French fans had their dream day on the Col de la Madeleine as Pauline Ferrand-Prévot delivered a towering solo win on stage 8 of the Tour de France Femmes, taking the yellow jersey in the process. The Visma – Lease a Bike rider, who started the day second overall, launched a long-range attack on the final climb and powered clear to win by 1 minute 46 seconds ahead of Sarah Gigante, with Niamh Fisher-Black rounding out the podium.
How the queen stage unfolded
The 112km stage from Chambéry to Saint-François-Longchamp featured three categorised climbs, including the hors catégorie Col de la Madeleine summit finish. The day began under damp skies with temperatures cooling significantly toward the summit, where it was just 7°C.
Early attacks came thick and fast on the opening Col de Plainpalais. Riejanne Markus was the first to launch, joined by Usoa Ostolaza. Elise Chabbey and Marion Bunel were also involved in the opening salvos, while Maeva Squiban quickly bridged to the front group. Chabbey crested the climb first, collecting maximum QoM points ahead of Squiban and Markus.
Photo Credit: A.S.O./Pauline BalletA breakaway eventually formed, including Chabbey, Fisher-Black, Ghekiere, Muzic, Vallieres, Claes, Koch, Meijering, Kastelijn and others. Evita Muzic became the virtual yellow jersey as the gap extended to over four minutes, and Koch claimed top points at the intermediate sprint in Châteauneuf.
The GC action began to stir well before the final climb. Kim Le Court-Pienaar, who began the day in yellow, crashed on a descent and was visibly shaken as she rejoined the peloton. She later swapped bikes with teammate Megan Jastrab and rode with increasing difficulty, losing touch before the base of the Madeleine.
With the breakaway still ahead, Chabbey secured further QoM points on the Côte de Saint-Georges-d’Hurtières, tightening her grip on the polka dot jersey. As the final climb approached, Chloe Dygert and Christina Schweinberger led the GC group, with AG Insurance-Soudal, FDJ-Suez and Visma – Lease a Bike all committed to the chase.
Photo Credit: A.S.O./Pauline BalletOnce on the Madeleine, the stage exploded. Squiban, winner of the previous two stages, began to fade. Gigante made the first major GC attack with around 10km to go, briefly joined by Pauliena Rooijakkers. Ferrand-Prévot, supported by Bunel, bridged to Gigante and immediately took control, catching and dropping the leading pair of Fisher-Black and Yara Kastelijn.
With 5km to go, Ferrand-Prévot went solo. Behind, Gigante was unable to match the pace but held off the chasers. Niewiadoma-Phinney, Vollering, Włodarczyk, Rooijakkers and Kerbaol formed the main GC chase group, but none could get close. At the flamme rouge, the French rider had a gap of 1 minute 24 seconds on Gigante and more than three minutes on Vollering’s group.
Ferrand-Prévot crossed the line alone at Saint-François-Longchamp, sealing her first ever Tour de France Femmes stage win and taking the yellow jersey with two stages remaining. Her preparation had been precise. Speaking ahead of the race, she said she made a point of training specifically on the Madeleine:
Photo Credit: A.S.O./Thomas MaheuxShe explained that she had ridden the climb twice in training. “I wanted to see it two times because you can see it better if you see it more often,” she said. “In MTB, I’m used to knowing everything about the lap, every corner. I also like to know where I am riding. I think it’s important for the Col de la Madeleine because it is a super long climb and you need to be focused for an hour and a half, so you need some tricks to stay focused. It’s why I spent the second time to just do it at a good pace and take my marks, see where I can go faster or recover, or to keep my own tempo for such a long period.”
Gigante came home second at 1’46”, with Fisher-Black holding on for third. Demi Vollering pipped Kastelijn to fourth place, followed by Kerbaol, Włodarczyk and Niewiadoma-Phinney. Le Court-Pienaar lost over six minutes and dropped out of contention for the GC.
Stage 8 reshuffled the overall standings completely, with Ferrand-Prévot now in yellow, Gigante climbing up the GC, and Chabbey securing the mountains classification lead. The queen stage had delivered a queenly performance.
2025 Tour de France Femmes stage 8 result
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Main photo credit: Getty
