Pauline Ferrand-Prévot is the winner of the Tour de France Femmes 2025. In the final mountain stage finishing in Châtel, the Visma | Lease a Bike rider stayed out of trouble, giving France its first Tour winner since 1985. With a late attack, Ferrand-Prévot also took the stage victory ahead of Demi Vollering. Sarah Gigante had a painful day; she was dropped on the descent of the Joux Plane and lost her podium spot to Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma.
After Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s power move on Saturday on the Col de la Madeleine to claim the stage win, Sunday brought a tough finale through the Alps. After the start, the riders headed via Combloux to Sallanches, then climbed the **Col de Joux-Plane (11.6 km at 8.6%)**. This infamous climb was the last major test for the GC contenders. Following a fast descent into Morzine came the **Col de Corbier (5.9 km at 8.5%)**. The finish was at the ski resort of Portes du Soleil, with the final 25 kilometers steadily climbing towards Châtel.
Chaos from the start: Ferrand-Prévot and Gigante dropped on the descent
Right from the start, Lorena Wiebes launched an attack, soon followed by a brief move from Justine Ghekiere. Those attempts had no lasting effect, but a two-woman break by Anna van der Breggen and Femke Gerritse had more success. Lotte Kopecky and Lucinda Brand managed to join them on the descent towards Sallanches, giving SD Worx-Protime three riders up front.
More drama unfolded as Sarah Gigante was immediately reported on the backfoot in the first descent of the day. Not only the Australian, but also yellow jersey Pauline Ferrand-Prévot found themselves behind a split. The groups of Gigante and Ferrand-Prévot merged, but they were about half a minute behind the ‘peloton’ led by third-placed Demi Vollering. Vollering’s FDJ-SUEZ team took control upfront to push the pace hard, while Visma | Lease a Bike slowed the peloton elsewhere to help Ferrand-Prévot bridge back.
Anna van der Breggen colored the stage with a long solo – photo: Cor Vos
The chase work of Visma | Lease a Bike and AG Insurance-Soudal paid off, and the connection was made after about fifteen minutes. Closing down attacks from riders such as Kim Le Court in Vollering’s group helped as well. So, just before the Côte d'Arâches-la-Frasse (6.2 km at 7.1%), everything came back together. Van der Breggen launched several attacks there but never got away. Ferrand-Prévot and FDJ-SUEZ blocked her moves, causing the peloton to splinter early. In fact, with more than 90 kilometers remaining, only a select group of favorites remained.
Van der Breggen goes for a 93.9-kilometer solo
Once again it was Van der Breggen who tried and this time she succeeded. Behind her, an elite group formed in which FDJ-SUEZ took command, but that was far behind Van der Breggen. At the summit of Côte d'Arâches-la-Frasse, the gap was already over a minute and kept growing. Ferrand-Prévot was isolated, but FDJ-SUEZ and Lidl-Trek worked hard to bring back the chase group.
With a 1:45 lead, Van der Breggen ultimately began the main event of the day, the Col de Joux-Plane (11.6 km at 8.6%). In the peloton, Cedrine Kerbaol and Kasia Niewiadoma crashed on the approach. The Polish rider quickly rejoined, but Kerbaol had major problems and couldn’t get back. AG Insurance-Soudal’s pace-setting then triggered an attack by Gigante with just under 9 kilometers to the summit. Only Ferrand-Prévot, Niewiadoma, Vollering, Niahm Fisher-Black, Juliette Labous, and the surprise Dominika Wlodarczyk could follow.
Sarah Gigante thins the favorite group on Joux-Plane
Gigante’s acceleration didn’t have the desired effect, so she lowered the pace. This allowed the lone Van der Breggen to extend her lead back to 1:45. She kept her ‘coffee grinder’ cadence high and showed little fear of the pursuers. A new surge from Gigante caused further thinning of the group. Ferrand-Prévot, Vollering, Niewiadoma, and Fisher-Black were the only ones who could follow. The big absentees were the fallen Kerbaol and Pauliena Rooijakkers.
Labous and Wlodarczyk managed to rejoin, after which Vollering put another rider on the front in the final kilometers of the Joux-Plane. The FDJ-SUEZ leader then launched her own acceleration, significantly reducing the gap to Van der Breggen. At the summit, the SD Worx-Protime rider held exactly a 50-second advantage before the notorious and technical descent began. Vollering attacked over the top and plunged downhill, hoping to drop Gigante there.
Lonesome struggle: Gigante dropped on the descent and lost podium place
That happened quickly, as the Australian lost contact and nearly a minute on the yellow jersey group. This allowed Vollering to virtually take over second place from Gigante, who also had to fear Niewiadoma and even Wlodarczyk. It turned into a lonely suffering for the small Australian, as everyone ahead had an interest in keeping the pace high. Only Ferrand-Prévot tagged along and saw that everything was going well.
Meanwhile, Van der Breggen maintained around a 30-second lead on the other favorites, but at the foot of the Col de Corbier (5.9 km at 8.5%) she felt the heat behind her. Soon after, the solo effort of a weary AVDB ended in dignity. The gap to Gigante had already stretched to more than two minutes. The Australian gained little ground on the Corbier, while the favourites kept each other in check.
🚴🇫🇷 | Vollering and Niewiadoma are watching each other, so the yellow jersey goes solo. There’s something behind that the others don’t have! 💨💨 #TDFF2025
📺 Watch the race on HBO Max pic.twitter.com/rUZ7blsnst
— Eurosport Nederland (@Eurosport_NL) August 3, 2025
Merci et au revoir: Pauline Ferrand-Prévot puts the finishing touches in Châtel!
In the final steadily climbing 20 kilometers towards Châtel, the group of favorites kept rotating. Except for Ferrand-Prévot, who sat on their wheels and watched, everyone had an interest in pushing Gigante further back. The gap grew beyond three minutes, securing Vollering and Niewiadoma’s places on the final podium. Then only the battle for the stage win remained: Vollering attacked with 7 kilometers to go, but all her rivals followed.
Her move was answered by an attack from Ferrand-Prévot. With a powerful acceleration, the yellow jersey blew everyone off her wheel to the delight of the French fans. Fisher-Black managed to stay with her briefly but had to drop back on the final climb. Nothing stood in the way of a new stage win and the overall victory for PFP. She rode away by more than 25 seconds and had plenty of time to celebrate this great triumph with all the spectators.
Far behind her, Vollering won the sprint for second place, securing her runner-up position in the overall standings. The third spot on the final podium went to the defending Tour winner, Kasia Niewiadoma.
🚴🇫🇷 | Pauline Ferrand-Prévot wins the final stage and thus the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift! PFP underlines her status as a French hero! 🙌💛 #TDFF2025
📺 Watch the race on HBO Max pic.twitter.com/Sd5NJCSTsj
— Eurosport Nederland (@Eurosport_NL) August 3, 2025
This report will be updated.
Praz-sur-Arly) Châtel)
Sarah Gigante made her move uphill – photo: Cor Vos
Tour de France Femmes| Rank | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 03:38:23 | |
| 2 | + 20 | |
| 3 | + 23 | |
| 4 | " | |
| 5 | + 33 | |
| 6 | + 01:49 | |
| 7 | + 03:53 | |
| 8 | + 09:22 | |
| 9 | + 09:23 | |
| 10 | + 09:26 |
Tour de France Femmes| Rank | Rider | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | - | 29:54:24 | |
| 2 | - | + 03:42 | |
| 3 | - | + 04:09 | |
| 4 | - | + 05:45 | |
| 5 | - | + 06:25 | |
| 6 | - | + 06:40 | |
| 7 | - | + 09:13 | |
| 8 | - | + 13:43 | |
| 9 | - | + 13:59 | |
| 10 | - | + 15:50 |
Stage winner and classification leaders after stage 9
