Only one, full-bright star could be seen this Friday from the observatory sitting at the summit of the Mont Ventoux. Her name is Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon//SRAM) and she put out the bravest ride up the Mont Ventoux to conquer the Giant of Provence in its first appearance in the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. The Polish rider powered away from Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) and Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team) 9.5 kilometre from the summit to raise her arms in victory for the first time in this race (she had never won a Tour stage until today!) and take the Yellow Jersey off the shoulders of the Swiss rider. Niewiadoma-Phinney is now on track to repeat her overall triumph in 2024 if he manages to defend her lead of 15” on Vollering and 39” on Reusser this weekend. As of Saturday, the 2026 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift heads south towards the French Riviera. Stage 8 from Sisteron to Nice will be the longest in this edition of the event, with 171.9 kilometres that should end in a reduced bunch sprint. On Sunday, Stage 9 will mark the great finale of the race, with four climbs up the Col d’Èze offering a chance for a definitive GC shake-up.
128 riders took the start in the 7th stage of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift as of 13:12 CEST, which began from La Voulte-sur-Rhône to finish atop the Mont Ventoux after 146.8 kilometres of racing all the way to the summit of one of the most iconic climbs in road cycling. There were three non-starters: SD Worx-Protime’s Anna van der Breggen, Uno-X Mobility’s Katrine Aalerud and Mayenne Monbana My Pie’s Kiara Lylyk.
The day’s breakaway took long to go clear
The peloton set off under the bright sun and peacefully crested the Col de la Grande Limite (Cat 2, km 13.6) and the Col du Colombier (Cat 3, km 41.1) with Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) claiming maximum points to further extend her lead in the QOM standings. Nine riders tried to break away between the two climbs, unsuccessfully.
It was at kilometre 67 that Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) ignited the race with an attack that was promptly followed by Marit Raaijmakers (Human Powered Health), Mia Griffin (Picnic-PostNL), Amelie Dideriksen (Cofidis), Idoia Eraso, Paula Patiño (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Marte Berg Edseth (Uno-X Mobility), Sandrine Tas, Romina Hinojosa (Lotto Intermarché Ladies) and Clémence Latimier (Ma Petite Entreprise). Three women tried to jump across from the peloton: Fiona Magnan (Mayenne Monbana My Pie) succeeded, yet Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Sophie Von Berswordt (Volkerwessels) were kept at bay and eventually caught at the foot of the Col de Suzette (Cat 2, km 105.3).
The breakaway clocked a maximum gap of 3’20” on the way to the Intermediate Sprint in Beaumes-de-Venise (IS, km 97.9), where Dideriksen was first across as the advantage was timed at 2’55”. Up the Col de Suzette (Cat 2, km 105.3), Griffin and Hinojosa were distanced. Roseman-Gannon was the first to crest the climb, with the peloton 1’35” behind as an intense fight for positioning led the GC teams to increase the speed. After a series of attacks, Ruby Roseman-Gannon broke away solo to be caught by the peloton with 18 kilometres to go and the Mont Ventoux already in sight.
Exhilarating climb up Mont Ventoux
The initial slopes of the climb towards Mont Ventoux left just 14 riders in the front group: Célia Gery, Juliette Berthet, Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez), Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team), Cédrine Kerbaol, Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly), Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney, Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon//SRAM), Isabella Holmgren, Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek), Elisa Longo Borghini, Dominika Wlodarczyk, Paula Blasi (UAE Team L’Imad) and Marion Bunel (Visma | Lease a Bike), the latter seeing her leader Pauline Ferrand-Prévot get dropped in the very first ramps.
Gery, Berthet and Rüegg took care of the pace-setting until Vollering unleashed her first acceleration with 11 kilometres to go. Reusser and Niewiadoma-Phinney were the only ones able to keep up with her pace. The newly-formed front trio had 10” on a four-strong chasing group with Longo Borghini, Blasi, Niedermaier and Kerbaol with 10 kilometres to go. Niewiadoma-Phinney took off 9.5 from the finish, and there started a psychological battle between Reusser and Vollering, taking unsteady turns that saw the Polish rider extend her lead up to 1’15” with 5 kilometres to go, the chasing group trailing further behind at 1’35”.
By that point, the riders were well past Chalet Reynard (-6.2 km), which marks the moment on which the Mont Ventoux road quits the forest and enters a moon-like, fully exposed landscape. From this point, the riders had to endure heavy headwinds, with gusts up to 50kph. Niewiadoma-Phinney’s fight against the wind just underlined how bold, gutsy and excellent her ride was. After enjoying a lead up to 1’45” on her closest chasers, she crossed the finish line with 1’16” on Vollering, who accelerated inside the final kilometre to crack Reusser as the Swiss lost 1’46” and the Yellow Jersey at the finish line, overtaken by Longo Borghini (3rd at 1’42”). The new rider at the top of the standings is, of course, the brave Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney.
