Tour de France Femmes 2025: stage seven tackles Col du Granier and more – live | Tour de France Femmes
Key events
129km to go: Here we go. These are the 17 riders that are now 1min 45secs ahead of the peloton: Chloe Dygert (Canyon/SRAM zondacrypto), Marie Le Net (FDJ-Suez), Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime), Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ), Mareille Meijering (Movistar), Lucinda Brand, Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek), Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance Soudal-Team), Megan Jastrab (Picnic PostNL), Susanne Andersen (Uno-X Mobility), Célia Le Mouel (Ceratizit), Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health), Alicia González (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93), Alice Arzuffi (Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi), Fiona Mangan (Winspace Orange Seal), Eline Jansen and Maud Rijnbeek (Volkerwessels).
134km to go: A large breakaway group of 17 riders has opened a one minute gap at the front. I’m struggling to get names as the TV coverage hasn’t started yet and I’m relying on the official race centre and radio. I will update as soon as I catch some names!
Colin has been in touch via email with some thoughts on today’s stage. He writes:
Thanks for the coverage – it’s been great so far and looking forward to the last three days.
Two thoughts today:
– I would love to see Cédrine Kerbaol take off on the last descent to claim the stage. Descents mostly get talked about for their danger, but riding fast downhill is a skill that needs practice and experience. You’ve got to admire her daring and talent.
– What are FDJ-Suez doing? They have the pre-race favourite in the team yet yesterday Elise Chabbey spent most of the day pulling the break and sprinting for QOM points. Then Juliette Labous tried to get away from the GC favourites near the end of the stage, when there was no likely chance of her catching Maëva Squiban, and she wasn’t threatening anyone on GC. It might be Demi Vollering is strong enough to win anyway, but with three tough stages to come, I’d have been saving my domestiques for support when it matters, not fighting for the QOM jersey or attacking for the hell of it, which are surely minor considerations compared to winning yellow.
Looking forward to following along today!
Both very good points. I am always in awe of the descending skills of the professionals. It’s quite something to watch. And on FDJ-Suez, there was a lot of similiar thoughts from the commentators yesterday on TNT Sports.
143km to go: Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek) bridges across to Squiban and for a moment, the duo manage an 18sec gap. But the peloton are not having it, they’ve swallowed them up and all is back together.
149km to go: Blimey, yesterday’s solo breakaway hasn’t dampened Maëva Squiban’s (UAE Team ADQ) energy. She’s off again! She manages an 8sec gap on the peloton.
The racing has begun!
156km to go: And we’re off! The riders set off as the race flag is dropped and stage seven is now officially under way. There have been no withdrawals this morning so there are 132 riders in the peloton.
Here is a summary of what today’s stage has in store from the Tour’s race centre:
While its profile seems less daunting than the two days that follow – with Col de la Madeleine on Saturday and Col de Joux Plane on Sunday – this seventh stage in truth remains no less tricky and promises to produce a great battle.
The final third of the 159.7-km route is a rollercoaster, with a dizzying plunge towards Chambéry. At the summit of Col du Granier, which the riders will reach following an 8.9km climb at 5.3% (category two), they’ll have to be brave for what comes next: a 17km descent to reach the finish.
To win the stage, they’ll have to take risks. Even if it means losing everything? This is the dilemma that will arise for the top guns, who are all still neck and neck with three days to go.
Today’s rollout has begun
Stage seven of the Tour de France Femmes 2025 is under way. The peloton have rolled out from Bourg-en-Bresse. There’s a 3.1km neutralised section before the racing begins.
In his race report yesterday, Jeremy Whittle provided this handy summary of stage six’s impact on the GC ranking:
Kim Le Court was as good as her word at the bonus sprints and made every second count. The Mauritian took another four seconds, just ahead of the defending champion, Kasia Niewiadoma, to extend her overall lead. “The goal was to control the race, and then see if the legs were there,” she said. “After that, it was to take the remaining bonus seconds, as there was already a rider up ahead.”
“We tried to close the gap to Squiban to try and get the stage, but it wasn’t going to happen so tried to get a bit more time at the finish. I couldn’t wish for it to be better, apart from maybe winning the stage.”
The 29-year-old leads by 26 seconds from Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and by 30 seconds from Niewiadoma, who leap-frogged the pre-race favourite, Demi Vollering, into third place.
The first mountain stage included 2,475m of altitude gain over four categorised climbs, including the first category Col du Beal, and provoked significant time gaps. Marianne Vos tumbled down the yellow jersey rankings, dropping from sixth to 29th.
And who’s wearing which jersey:
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Yellow jersey: Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 18hrs 29mins 5secs
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Green jersey: Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), 208pts
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Polka dot jersey: Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez), 29pts
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White jersey: Julie Bego (Cofidis), 18hrs 36mins 24secs
Here’s a reminder of the top ten on GC after stage six:
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Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 18hrs 29mins 5secs
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Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike), +26secs
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Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon/SRAM), +30secs
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Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), +31secs
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Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx Protime), +35secs
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Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck), +53secs
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Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal), +1min 3secs
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Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), +1min 4secs
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Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly), +1min 24secs
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Évita Muzic (FDJ-Suez), +1min 24secs
Here is the route profile of stage seven of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift:
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Stage seven: Bourg-en-Bresse to Chambéry, 160km
Here’s a look at today’s stage, Friday 1 August: Bourg-en-Bresse to Chambéry, 159.7km, with the race director of the Tour de France Femmes, Marion Rousse:
From the magnificent monastery at Brou, the race will start on flat roads on the edge of the Dombes and the Ain plain. The riders will skim past the Glandieu waterfall before finding their pace checked by the Saint-Franc climb. After passing through Les Échelles and the Guiers Vif gorges, they will head for the Col du Granier (8.9km at 5.4%). The dive into the finish, located in front of the Chambéry Savoie Stadium, is likely to be fast and technical.
Preamble
After yesterday’s mountain stage, there’s a hilly parcours for the riders today, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be an easy day for them. The fatigue is building and there are two more mountain days before the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift culminates in Châtel this Sunday. Stage seven also brings us the first day in the Alps of this year’s Tour de France Femmes.
Today’s stage will take the peloton over almost 160km of roads, with three categorised climbs loaded into the second half. After reaching the summit of the final climb, the Col du Granier (8.9km averaging 5.4%), those battling for the stage win will swoop down a fast and technical descent into Chambéry. GC contenders will want to position themselves well to either gain time or not lose it. Those that are particularly adept at descending, such as Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon/SRAM), may well also have their eye on the stage win. Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) are also riders that relish a fast, technical mountain descent. But don’t take your eyes off the maillot jaune, Kim Le Court Pienaar, who is looking particularly strong, not to mention her closely placed competitors, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez).
The rollout will begin at 1.30pm CET/12.30pm BST, so stick with us for live updates of the racing.
If you want to catch up on yesterday’s lively stage and Maëva Squiban’s (UAE Team ADQ) perfect attack, here is Jeremy Whittle’s report from Ambert:
