Demi Vollering finished fourth in the first mountain stage of the Tour de France Femmes on Thursday. The Dutch rider sees yellow jersey wearer Kimberley Le Court extend her lead slightly in the general classification due to bonus seconds.
The 28-year-old Vollering was beaten by Le Court in the sprint for third place. As a result, the Mauritian extended her lead by four seconds thanks to the bonus seconds at the finish. Along the way, Le Court had already picked up four bonus seconds in an intermediate sprint.
In the general classification, Vollering is now 31 seconds behind Le Court. The leader of FDJ-SUEZ was passed by Katarzyna Niewiadoma and is now fourth. Le Court has a 26-second lead over number two Pauline Ferrand-Prévot.
The sixth stage, which took the peloton over 123.7 kilometers from Clermont-Ferrand to Ambert, was won by Maëva Squiban. The Frenchwoman crowned a solo of 31 kilometers with the victory. Squiban finished more than a minute ahead of her compatriot Juliette Labous, who finished second just ahead of the group of favorites.
Squiban jumped away from a group of about twenty riders on the Col du Chansert, a climb of the second category. The 23-year-old rider from UAE Team ADQ extended her lead further and further and became the second French stage winner ever in the Tour de France Femmes. In 2022, Cédrine Kerbaol was the first Frenchwoman to win a Tour stage.
Vos drops out of top classification
Anna van der Breggen, Pauliena Rooijakkers and Puck Pieterse also came in with the group of favorites. They are fifth, sixth and eighth in the standings, respectively.
Marianne Vos, who lost the yellow jersey to Le Court on Wednesday, dropped out of the top of the standings. She crossed the finish line more than sixteen minutes behind Squiban.
The Tour lasts until Sunday and there are only mountain stages on the program. On Friday, the riders must conquer two climbs of the second category and a climb of the fourth category.