Justine Ghekiere bursts clear to wins stage seven of Tour de France Femmes – live reaction

2.47pm BST

Top 10 on GC after stage seven

1. Niewiadoma (20hr 00min 52sec)
2) Pieterse +27sec
3) Kerbaol +37
4) Labous +1min 01sec
5) De Jong (+1min 09sec)
6) Van Anrooij (+1min 12sec)
7) Rooijakkers (+1min 13sec)
8) Vollering (1min 15sec)
9) Muzic (1min 25sec)
10) Ghekiere (1min 27sec)

2.41pm BST

Top five on stage seven:

1. Ghekiere
2. Squiban +1min 15sec
3. Vollering +1min 23sec
4. Niewiadoma +1min 23sec
5. Muzic +1min 27sec

Updated at 2.43pm BST

2.40pm BST

On Eurosport, Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx Protime) is asked if the stage went as expected: “Yes and no. I didn’t expect a group to get such a big gap. We were not prepared to ride straight away. And I think Canyon took a little while to do that. We were focused on going into the final climb and seeing how Demi feels, and maybe chip away at that gap … but time gaps were difficult to make [on the final climb].

“It was not our responsibility [to close the gap] – we weren’t thinking about the stage, we were thinking about GC. In the end … all the teams wanted something out of today, and in the end everybody put a rider in [to work] … and the gap comes down.”

Is it a gamble to leave it to the final stage? “It’s a gamble. Cycling is always a gamble … it [Vollering victory] is possible. We’ve just got to keep that in our minds. Big time gaps will be made. We won’t be talking about a minute [gap] at the end of the tour, that’s for sure.”

2.33pm BST

“ I really have no words ,” says Ghekiere, before having some words, as is customary.

“It’s really … I think I’m dreaming … yeah, it’s crazy.

“I really want to thank my team. The whole team in the beginning was in the front, and protected me really good, and helped to get me in the break.

“And especially, a really, really big thanks to Julie [Van de Velde]. She rode a really strong race, she did everything for me to get me to the climb without using energy.

“When I took the last points [on the penultimate climb], then I was really dead, and I thought – I’ll just go at my own pace. I could stay away – I can’t believe it, I really can’t believe it.

“That will be a big present to ride the bike with the polka dots [planned by the team tomorrow] …

“I’m really looking forward to riding the last stage of this tour, in this skinsuit, and with the win already: it’s just a dream.”

Updated at 2.40pm BST

2.23pm BST

The AG Insurance–Soudal–Quick-Step rider, Ghekiere, zipped up her polka-dot jersey, put her hands out and then held her head in disbelief as she crossed the line.

It was an absolutely monster ride by her teammate Van de Velde in the break, too. Soon after the live pictures started Ghekiere pointed at her teammate and made it clear to the TV viewers how much work she was putting in.

Updated at 2.40pm BST

2.21pm BST

Ghekiere collapses on the floor in exhaustion and joy. She is crying tears of happiness. A remarkable performance.

Updated at 2.22pm BST

2.21pm BST

Maëva Squiban takes second. That was a huge effort. Vollering finishes third having come past Niewiadoma.

2.20pm BST

Niewiadoma and Vollering are marking each other to the line. It was the Polish rider who attacked and Vollering was able to follow.

Updated at 2.20pm BST

2.19pm BST

Justine Ghekiere wins stage seven!

What a ride that was! Incredible stuff. She looks like she can barely believe it!

2.18pm BST

500m to go: Attacks behind. Niewiadoma attacks under the flamme rouge! Vollering follows. Pieterse cannot respond.

Updated at 2.18pm BST

2.17pm BST

1km to go: Ghekiere can almost taste this stage win. Phenomenal ride. She still has 1min 11sec. She grimaces with effort as she continues to crank the pedals around, keeping a good cadence. She is nearly there!

Updated at 2.17pm BST

2.16pm BST

1.8km to go: Squiban has clipped off alone to chase the leader but she is 1min 12 sec behind. Vos and Martin are caught up the group of favourites.

2.14pm BST

2.3km to go: Niewiadoma now puts in a big acceleration! She closes the gap to Rooijakkers. The helicopter gives us some picturesque shots of the winding road up the mountain to Le Grand-Bornand.

Updated at 2.15pm BST

2.13pm BST

2.5km to go: Vos, Martin and Squiban are together and are the closest chasers to our leader.

2.12pm BST

3km to go: Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix–Deceuninck) storms out of the big front group! A punishing attack and no one is willing or able to react.

Ghekiere powers on alone up front. This is a stunning ride and she still has 1min 30sec!

Updated at 2.12pm BST

2.09pm BST

4km to go: Vollering loses a teammate as Niamh Fisher-Black is dropped.

Ghekiere shows the first signs of fatigue. She is grinding up a steep section and her souplesse is suffering a touch as she sways from side to side in the saddle.

Updated at 2.10pm BST

2.07pm BST

5km to go: Ghekiere has 1min 12sec on her closest chasers and 2min 13 sec on the main group.

Vos and Martin are together behind Ghekiere. Maeve Squiban (Arkea B&B Hotels) has attacked out of the front group and is now with Van de Velde who was dropped a while back.

Updated at 2.08pm BST

2.05pm BST

5.5km to go: Ghekiere was 22nd and 3min down before today. So she is going to be firmly in the mix for GC if she can hold this gap.

2.04pm BST

6km to go: The group of GC favourites hits the final climb. Up front, Ghekiere has a minute’s advantage.

2.02pm BST

7km to go: Ghekiere is riding through a massive crowd. Which is good to see. Especially as they are at the side of the road and not in the middle of it.

The defending champion, Vollering, attacks behind! Niewiadoma covers the move.

Updated at 2.03pm BST

2.00pm BST

8km to go: Ghekiere isn’t satisfied with the points on the penultimate climb. She is powering ahead and aiming for the stage win. The gap between her and the main bunch is 2min 23sec.

1.58pm BST

9.5km to go: Ghekiere (AG Insurance–Soudal–Quick-Step) nabs a further five points as she reaches the QOM point on the Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt alone.

1.56pm BST

11km to go: In terms of Niewiadoma’s GC hopes this is looking good. Her Canyon-SRAM team have had plenty of help to get the breakaway back and now it will be a question of who has the best legs on the final climb. The Polish rider should have plenty left in the tank to battle her closest rivals.

1.53pm BST

12km to go: Ghekiere has 30sec on the ever-diminishing break. The gap between Ghekiere and the peloton is 2min 30sec.

1.52pm BST

12.5km to go: Ghekiere has attacked her breakaway colleagues. She is out front alone and is going all-out for the points atop the Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt.

Updated at 1.52pm BST

1.50pm BST

13km to go: Van de Velde pops.

1.49pm BST

14km to go: Julie Van de Velde has put in an absolutely monster ride. She is escorting her teammate Ghekiere to the top of the second-last climb of the day. Will she sit up for a rest after that? You’d suspect so.

1.47pm BST

14.5km to go: Ruth Edwards is now dropped, and thus the least aesthetically-pleasing jersey in the breakaway is gone.

The gap is down to 3min.

Updated at 1.48pm BST

1.44pm BST

15.5km to go: The gap is 3min 28sec now. And falling fast …

Sarah Roy (Cofidis) is dropped.

Updated at 1.44pm BST

1.41pm BST

18km to go: “It’s nothing crazy in terms of gradient,” says Eurosport’s reporter Manon Lloyd at the finish line, having just driven the final two climbs. “But definitely long enough to create some gaps.”

I guess that lack of steepness might play into the hands of the breakaway if they can co-operate well?

Updated at 1.42pm BST

1.39pm BST

18.5km go to: The gap is 4min. The road hasn’t really kicked up for the Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt just yet.

1.38pm BST

20km to go: “This is where we say it’s a bit like chess on wheels,” says Dani Christmas on commentary of the tactics of all these teams and riders. “There are a million different factors that go into it.”

1.35pm BST

21km to go: “I don’t think they are going to make it,” Slappendel says of the six-rider breakaway. “Once the peloton starts chasing the gap will fall really quickly.”

Judging by the facial expressions on the riders working on the front of the bunch, safe to say they are chasing already.

The gap is down slightly to 4min 14sec.

Updated at 1.35pm BST

1.32pm BST

23km to go: Ghekiere is the second-best placed on GC in this front group and she is 3min down on the race leader Niewiadoma.

Vollering is pictured in the bunch looking ultra-focused and cool. The riders are all to aware they’ve got some painful climbing coming up very shortly.

Updated at 1.33pm BST

1.31pm BST

24km to go: A good shot below from the start area courtesy of Fenix-Deceuninck’s Twitter.

Now, the peloton is split into two large groups on either side of a wide road on the valley floor. They are powering on to the foot of the Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt.

1.28pm BST

25km to go: It’s 4min 20sec for the six riders up front now.

1.27pm BST

27km to go: Plenty of effort is coming from the peloton behind now, and the gap has been falling for a while.

Updated at 1.28pm BST

1.23pm BST

30km to go: “I think my main focus should be the GC now,” Puck Pieterse of Fenix-Deceuninck told Eurosport before today’s start. “But we’ll have to see how I get over the longer climbs today. We have a first category climb for the first time … I’ll see how the legs are, try to follow – follow, follow, follow.”

Note: Pieterse was first over the top of the category-one Col de la Croix de la Serra.

“I’m quite excited for the coming days,” Pieterse adds. “I did an altitude camp before the Olympics … so not right before this race, but for sure, my body is a bit more adapted when you go above 1,500m.”

Updated at 1.25pm BST

1.19pm BST

33km to go: “Who’s fuelling well today ahead of tomorrow’s stage? That could be the difference between winning and losing.”

Excellent point from Dani Rowe on commentary in regard to the demands of multi-stage racing and the challenge that awaits on Alpe d’Huez tomorrow.

1.17pm BST

33.5km to go: The gap has come in to 4min 46sec.

1.15pm BST

34km to go: A cool little video taken from the race director’s car during this morning’s neutralised start in Champagnole.

1.13pm BST

35km to go: Iris Slappendel, on the famous Eurosport bike, observes that Vollering is normally the one defending a GC lead, but her crash a couple of days ago means she is looking for a chance to attack and make some time up in the GC.

“I think Canyon-SRAM is a bit more adaptable rather than SD Worx,” Slappendel say. “I’m wondering how this race is going to evolve. Not much happening behind but there will need to be when we hit the mountains.”

1.10pm BST

37km to go: The gap is 4min 50sec. The break is about to hit a significant uncategorised climb which comes before the cat-two.

1.05pm BST

42km to go: It seems the peloton deliberately allowed the break a fairly long leash while Ghekiere and Vos went for the QOM points and sprint points respectively. But is there now some concern that Vos could pull off a smash-and-grab on the GC?

1.03pm BST

43km to go : There is some uncategorised up and down now before the penultimate climb, the Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt. It’s 5.4km long with a 5.1% average gradient.

1.00pm BST

48km to go: Ghekiere has 31 points in the QOM classification after winning 13 thus far on today’s stage. Pieterse has 25 points after grabbing 10 on the day’s first climb.

12.55pm BST

49km to go: Vos was 15th before today in the GC, 1min 53sec down on the race leader Niewiadoma.

Updated at 12.59pm BST

12.49pm BST

52km to go: The gap between break and peloton has flown out to 5min 20sec.

It was mentioned on the telly that this break is not a threat on the GC but, let’s be honest, the current gap puts Vos in yellow by about three minutes.

Updated at 12.52pm BST

12.47pm BST

55km to go: Ghekiere (3pts) is first over the Côte de Cercier.

“We have riders with different interests,” Iris Slappendel says on the Eurosport bike.

“Vos didn’t have to work too hard for the sprint … while Ghekiere wants the mountain points.

“All the riders I spoke to this morning were complaining that they are tired … it takes a lot to be in the break today. Chapeau to this group for making it today, and for making it such a big time gap.”

12.44pm BST

56km to go: Live pictures! Ghekiere, in polka-dots, sits second in the six-rider break. She is behind her teammate Van de Velde. She points at her teammate and nods at the camera as if to say: “She is very strong and doing a fine job.”

Which is backed up by the TV pictures.

Updated at 1.06pm BST

12.39pm BST

Matt Stephens of Eurosport spoke to Demi Vollering before the start today.

How is she feeling?

“I feel good,” Vollering replies. “I was happy about yesterday.

“I had the power, it’s a good feeling that I could follow easily [after Thursday’s crash].

“Today is a very long day, very hard, a lot of climbing. It will be interesting to see what we can do on the big climbs.”

Updated at 12.39pm BST

12.36pm BST

59km to go: No fewer than 10 riders, including Kool, have abandoned today: Guarischi, Storrie, Spratt, Louw, Henderson, Bertizzolo, Williams, Docx and Christoforou.

The official page is here .

12.33pm BST

61km to go: Vos, almost but not quite needless to say, won the intermediate sprint from the break. That’s a handy 25 points to extend her lead in the points classification.

Why not check out all the post-stage six standings on the official site .

Updated at 12.33pm BST

12.19pm BST

70km to go: “The sponsors will only want to invest if they think they can capture an audience,” writes Jeremy Boyce of the lack of live coverage. “The audience is ready and waiting …”

12.18pm BST

71km to go: The gap has crept up to 2min 13sec. The leading six are working well together. To recap, the riders in this break are:

Marianne Vos (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)
Justine Ghekiere and Julie Van de Velde (AG Insurance - Soudal)
Sara Martín (Movistar)
Sarah Roy (Cofidis Women)
Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health).

Updated at 12.20pm BST

12.16pm BST

73km to go: The gap for the six-rider break is now 2min. There will be plenty of concerned DS’s on the teams who have missed this move.

12.15pm BST

74km to go: Pieterse and Ghekiere are duking it out for the QOM points. Pieterse closed the gap on her rival to one by winning maximum points on the category one Col de la Croix de la Serra. But now Ghekiere is first over the Côte de Bois d’Arlod, nabbing another two points from the breakaway, so her lead is back out to three.

Julie Van de Velde was second and took one point.

Updated at 12.22pm BST

12.10pm BST

76km to go: A six-rider breakaway clipped off the front on the long descent off the first climb and they have built a lead of 1min 25sec. Vos (Visma Lease A Bike), Ghekiere (AG Insurance Soudal), Van de Velde (AG Insurance Soudal), Edwards (Human Powered Health), Roy (Cofidis) and Martin (Movistar) are there.

Updated at 12.11pm BST

12.07pm BST

81km to go: These are the four climbs to come today:

Côte de Bois d’Arlod (2.4km distance, 4.6% average gradient)
Côte de Cercier (4km, 4.8%)
Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt (5.4km, 5.1%)
Le Grand-Bornand (7km, 5.1%)

There is also an intermediate sprint at Frangy, with 65.8km to go, between the Côte de Bois d’Arlod and the Côte de Cercier.

11.55am BST

88km to go: The average speed thus far is 38.3km/h. Which is extremely fast when you factor in the small matter of the category one climb they’ve been over, even while factoring in the immutable law that what goes up, must come down.

“The riders covered 35.1 km in the second hour of racing.” states the official site. “With an average speed of 38.4 km/h so far they are ahead of the fastest expected schedule.”

Updated at 12.01pm BST

11.49am BST

92km to go: Utter confusion reigns in regard to the Eurosport TV schedule, as per.

On their website the listings state that the live coverage starts at 11.30, but it appears to be 12.30 BST / 13.30 CET.

Updated at 11.50am BST

11.43am BST

97km to go: Puck Pieterse, who won stage four in dramatic fashion , was first over the top of the Col de la Croix de la Serra.

1. Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) 10 pts
2. Ghekiere (AG Insurance - Soudal Team) 8 pts
3. Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) 6 pts
4. Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) 4 pts
5. Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM Racing) 2 pts
6. Lippert (Movistar Team) 1 pt

Updated at 11.51am BST

11.32am BST

Kool abandons

108km to go: The peloton is just cresting the Col de la Croix de la Serra, the first climb, and the only category one on today’s menu.

There are 113 riders in the front group including, I believe, all the GC contenders.

Dsm–firmenich PostNL’s Charlotte Kool, meanwhile, has abandoned:

Kool won stage one, in the The Hague, last weekend:

Related: Charlotte Kool breezes to sprint victory on stage one of Tour de France Femmes

Updated at 11.45am BST

11.15am BST

A quick recap of stage six …

Cédrine Kerbaol took the first-ever stage win by a French rider in the modern Tour de France Femmes , with a daring attack 15km from the finish in Morteau, to move up to second in the overall standings, with two mountain stages of the race remaining.

“First French winner on the Tour de France Femmes, that’s something super-cool,” Kerbaol said after victory on stage six. “I hope it gives a lot of motivation to the next generation. That’s what I’m thinking about.” Her Ceratizit-WNT team’s social-media feed was more succinct. “Holy shit!” it exclaimed on X .

The path to her success was laid by an initial attack from the local rider Juliette Labous, who was racing on the roads of her youth. But if Labous was too tightly marked by the favourites to break away, Kerbaol was not and she moved clear over the top of the final climb, the Côte des Fins.

Read more here …

Related: Kerbaol makes Tour de France Femmes history after downhill attack

11.00am BST

Preamble

The first six days have been eventful – from the extremely congested top of the general classification, to Demi Vollering’s stage five crash that looks likely to have cost her overall victory. But everything remains up for grabs in this weekend’s concluding two stages.

Just 22sec separates the top four riders in GC and over a minute is the range across the top 10: Vollering, of SD Worx Protime, now sits 10th and 1min 19sec is the margin that separates the reigning champion from the current overall leader, Kasia Niewiadoma of Canyon/Sram Racing.

As Niewiadoma said after stage five and Vollering’s mishap , “1:19 in the mountains is nothing to be honest”, so expect the GC to be shaken up significantly by the coming 166.4km route, featuring five categorised climbs, between Champagnole and Le Grand Bornand. If tomorrow’s finish atop Alpe d’Huez is the Queen Stage, today is first in line to the throne.

Scheduled stage start time: 11.30 BST