Tour de France Femmes Stage 6 Live: Katarzyna Niewiadoma in yellow as Demi Vollering tries to recover lost time

"I'm really waiting for the big mountains as today was just a short one and I really trained for the long ones," says Evita Muzic of FDJ-Suez. She's keen to get going then, but it will be all eyes on Vollering tomorrow, to see if she can get back in contact and steal back some seconds.

Niewiadoma will be defending yellow again, and with so much elevation, it's going to be a tough, tough day for her and Canyon//SRAM.

If today's 'hills' whetted the appetite, tomorrow and Sunday we have high, high mountains.

Stage 6 begins in CHampagnole, it's a long one at 166.4km, concluding with a summit finish up Montee du Chinaillon, a 7km slog at 5.1% gradient. Ouch.

1. Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM Racing)

2. Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling) + 16''

3. Faulkner (EF - Oatly - Cannondale) + 19''

4. Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) + 22''

Yellow remains with Niewiadoma, the white jersey is still with Pieterse.

But the Queen of the Mountains polka dot jersey is now in the hands of Ghekiere, and Vos thanks to that sprint finish has the green jersey.

The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift has seen some brilliant battles, some incredible racing but now it has a French stage winner, which will send the crowds wild.

Kerbaol's ride there featured some breathless descending, she risked it all and it has paid off handsomely.

It won't be enough for yellow, but Kerbaol has picked up 21 seconds on her GC rivals and 10 bonus seconds too. What a finish that was, she timed her attack to perfection.

Niewiadoma holds onto yellow heading into Stage 7, with a 16'' lead over Kerbaol in seconds.

She was fourth overall going into this stage, and she will move up the order now. What a ride that was, Karbaol taking the first home victory in the Tour de France Femmes.

Vos sprinted to second place, Lippert was third.

The crowds are roaring her on, Cedrine Karbaol is going to hold on to this! The banging starts, the fans are going wild as the metres start to tick down... The last 300m are steep, steep but surely she can't be caught.

The Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling rider still has 33 seconds. She is out of her seat and giving this everything as she comes into the town.

Behind, there isn't anything doing just yet...

The gap is 36 seconds. There are some very fast finishers in that peloton, but do they have the time and the desire to chase down the Frenchwoman?

The last 700m today are slightly uphill. The peloton will gobble up those metres - but have they left it too late?

Brown is doing everything she can to tow the peloton back in touch, despite having been in the break and already having had to work so, so hard today.

But the gap is holding steady at around 37'', and at this rate Carbaol could be a danger to Niewiadoma for yellow.

Vollering just wants to survive today with no further losses by the looks of things, she might try to claw back time tomorrow. Kerbaol is flying up front, she has been in the aero tuck position for much of this descent and is now peddling hard for what would be the biggest win of her career to date.

The kilometres are ticking off fast now, as the riders are on a quick descent. Kerbaol's lead is 27 seconds. Not decisive, not yet.

The chase is on, and Vos is in the mix today for sure here. She is tied with Kool in the green jersey fight, but a stage victory is what her sights are set on right now.

There is one tiny, short uphill section left after this descent, then comes a longer descent and a flat finish. Kerbaol is off the front by herself, and she is just 47'' off the yellow jersey. She only has an 24'' lead as it stands though.

Vos has managed to get back to the peloton, so she cannot be discounted today.

Surely they can't let this move go - Kerbaol is in fourth place in the GC. Rooijakkers bridges to her, they have 17 seconds here. Vollering doesn't want to chase, Niewiadoma has a look around and no one seems too keen to shut this move down.

The leaders have been caught, so now we have an elite peloton at the front of the race, with Vos trying to keep in contact. She is putting in an absolute effort to get back to the group.

The yellow jersey is there, Pieterse is there, so is Vollering. Lippert, Swinkels... There are lots of big names in this one.

Pieterse attacks - she wants the QoM points!

Here we go then. Brown goes, and Fisher-Black holds her wheel. Further back, there are attacks off the front - and Niewiadoma bridges and shuts down the attack. Vollering wasn't initially anywhere to be seen, but she has moved forward.

And now that elite peloton can see the lead duo, and surely it is about to all come together.

Right then, 20km left in this stage, there's still just over 200m of elevation to gain and the temperature has dropped considerably as the riders have climbed.

The trio up front now have just 28'' on the bunch, so the identity of today's stage winner remains a complete mystery.

Is she is trouble? No - Faulkner is just dropping back to pick up some bottles from her team car. This is a good moment to do so, on this little plateaus before the climb up to the Cote des Fins.

Up front, Bunel has been caught and now there is just the lead trio, who have just 38'' on the peloton now.

Ghekiere is back in touch again so the lead group is up to three riders. Bunel is chasing alone, 56'' back and then the peloton is 1'06'' further down the road.

The cameras pan across a beautiful herd of horses frolicking in a field nearby, watching the commotion with interest. The fans are lining this route in huge numbers which is great to see as well.