Tour de France Femmes: Cedrine Kerbaol wins Stage 6 as bruised Demi Vollering rides on

Updated 16/08/2024 at 15:02 GMT

The home nation's wait for a winner at the Tour de France Femmes is over after Cedrine Kerbaol landed a gutsy solo attack on Stage 6. Despite starting the day fourth in the general classification, Kerbaol was allowed to get away as she delivered a famous win in Morteau. Demi Vollering now has just two stages to reclaim the yellow jersey after her nightmare crash and one-woman pursuit on Stage 5.

Kerbaol storms to Stage 6 victory for France's first ever TDFF win

Cedrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling) held off the bunch to win Stage 6 of the Tour de France Femmes.

Kerbaol made a break for freedom with 15km remaining, railing it down the final descent and soloing her way to the finish in Morteau.

Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) comfortably won the sprint behind for second ahead of Liane Lippert (Movistar). That was enough to put the Dutchwoman into the green jersey, as Charlotte Kool (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) relinquished her control of that category.

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Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) finished in the bunch to hold onto yellow for another day – but not by much. Demi Vollering (SD Worx) crossed the line in the same group, to leave her deficit still at 1'19''.

Stage 6 was officially classed as hilly, which felt like an understatement with the Cote de Laviron, La Roche du Pretre and the Cote des Fins on the route for starters. But on the relatively long initial run before those hills kicked in, a breakaway got free after 60km.

Katarzyna Niewiadoma of Poland and Team Canyon//SRAM Racing - Yellow Lader Jersey prior to the 3rd Tour de France Femmes 2024, Stage 6

Image credit: Getty Images

Vos was one of those riders to get away, Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) was also in the group, as was Human Powered Health’s Audrey Cordon-Ragot – looking to do something special on home soil.

It was another scorching hot summer’s day for the riders to negotiate as the race wound its way south, but the tempo was high from word go. It was soon clear why Vos had got herself into the breakaway, as she hoovered up the intermediate sprint points in the fight for the green jersey.

The race settled again after that until the descent after the Cote de Laviron, a fast downhill section that was tight and twisty to boot. But there weren’t any disasters on it, the peloton cleverly marshalling themselves and spreading out to avoid incident.

It was on the final uphill sections where the race finally broke apart, heading up to La Roche de Pretre before the bonus seconds and the Cote des Fins. First the peloton began to reduce in number, and at the same time the breakaway splintered.

Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx) was the first to try and move in the breakaway, and that left Vos behind for starters. Fisher-Black didn’t seem to be stationed up the road for Vollering to use, but instead was hunting a stage win.

'It's crazy' - Kerbaol delighted after claiming France's first stage win

She was joined by Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez), with Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) holding their wheels for long enough to pick up more Queen of the Mountains points over La Roche du Pretre, the Belgian rider keen to steal the polka dot jersey from Puck Pieterse – which she did.

Ghekiere managed to get back in touch on the descent, leaving that lead trio working together to keep the peloton at bay. But as the trio began to climb again up the Cote des Fins, they became a duo – before the peloton swept them in with 16km to go.

That left it anyone’s guess as to who was going to pick up the stage win, and it was at the 15km to go mark that Kerbaol first got away. There was some indecision as to whether to let her go given she was lying fourth overall, but that hesitation was enough for the Frenchwoman to make a gap.

But behind, Vos managed to get back in touch with the peloton – and no one wanted to tow her to a flat finish. It had been such an effort for the legendary Dutchwoman to get back in touch, her face etched in pain up the final climb as she tried to hold the final wheel – and it very much paid off at the finish.

Kerbaol handled the final descent perfectly, in an aero tuck position to build her lead, taking risks as she went. If she was going to be caught, it would be right at the line.

But it wasn’t to be, the Frenchwoman timing her last gasp push and crossing the line 21 seconds ahead of Vos, who out-sprinted Lippert for second place.

Ceratizit - WNT Pro Cycling Team's French rider Cedrine Kerbaol (C) celebrates her win on the podium after the 6th stage (out of 8) of the third edition of the Women's Tour de France cycling race

Image credit: Getty Images

It might not have been enough to snatch yellow from Niewiadoma, but it was a gutsy effort that firmly announced Kerbaol as one to watch for the future. Her 21-second victory combined with the bonus seconds for winning leapfrogged her up to second overall, just 16'' off the lead.

Neve Bradbury was riding for Niewiadoma, and she was quick to describe just how hard it was to control the race today to keep hold of yellow.

“We had a breakaway so we were trying to control that the whole way," Bradbury said. "We wanted to keep the yellow obviously, [Kerbaol] must have been really strong in that finish as we were chopping in hard and we didn’t get anywhere. It’s so special to work for [Niewiadoma] and she really deserves it.”

Tomorrow the high mountains beckon, with Stage 7 heading down to Le Grand-Bornand from Champagnole, a 166.4km route with a summit finish to boot.

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Tour de France Femmes