When the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift announced the inclusion of the Col de la Madeleine, everyone looked at Demi Vollering. She has been the best climber in women’s cycling history, producing ridiculous performances on the hardest climbs year after year. Then there was Sarah Gigante. She’s one of the best pure climbers in the world, so what could we expect from her on the Madeleine? Marlen Ruesser, Kristen Faulkner, and Elisa Longo Borghini were also in the discussion.
But what about Pauline Ferrand-Prévot? The decorated Frenchwoman had only just made her return to road racing in February, and that was the only time this season we saw her compete on a mountain top finish. Ferrand-Prévot finished 18th on Jebel Hafeet, an anonymous performance that eliminated her from most minds when it came to the Tour de France Femmes GC.
But on stage 1, Ferrand-Prévot dropped everyone on the uphill finish. Only two of the best puncheurs ever, Marianne Vos and Kim Le Court, caught her before the line, but it was an ominous sign for her rivals.
By the end of the Tour de France Femmes, Ferrand-Prévot had destroyed everyone, taking the GC by nearly four minutes, and winning the final stage solo in the yellow jersey. Here is how it happened.
Step 1: Make it to the Base of the Col de la Madeleine
The Tour de France Femmes began as an accidental elimination race. First, it was Marlen Reusser who pulled out of stage 1 with illness. Then, it was Elisa Longo Borghini who was a non-starter of stage 3. Demi Vollering was involved in a massive crash in the same stage, and last year’s Tour de France Femmes winner, Kasia Niewiadoma, also crashed in the lead up to crucial climbs.
Despite missing a few splits on descents, Ferrand-Prévot seemed to stay out of trouble more than the other GC contenders. After finishing on the podium in stage 1, Ferrand-Prévot made it through the next three stages without much of a scratch on her. The punchy climbs on stage 5 caused a few gaps, but all the GC contenders finished together, with Ferrand-Prévot in the middle of the group.
Stage 6 featured the first Category 1 climbs of the Tour de France Femmes, but there still weren’t any gaps between the GC contenders. The first major splits of the race came on the descent finish of stage 7. After climbing the Category 2 Col du Granier, the stage featured a 17.5km descent to the finish in Chambéry.
Gigante was put on the backfoot heading into the finish — descending being her biggest weakness — but even then, the Australian only lost 11 seconds to the GC group. Vollering, Niewiadoma, and Ferrand-Prévot didn’t seem keen to take more time on Gigante, somewhat inexplicably. If the GC group had been pushing the descent at all, surely they could have put 30-60 seconds into Gigante.
The GC favorites were happy to wait until the Col de la Madeleine to make their move. However, it wasn’t going to be easy to get there, since stage 8 began with a 13.3km Category 1 climb out of the neutral zone. There were countless attacks and splits, but the GC contenders remained together for nearly the entire stage. Gigante was struggling the most, having to fight her way back after getting gapped on the downhills and descents.
After two and a half hours of racing, the riders began one of the hardest climbs in the history of women’s cycling: the Col de la Madeleine. 18.9 kilometers long with an average gradient of 8%, the Madeleine, would take the fastest climbers more than an hour to complete. The steep gradients meant that there was very little benefit to being in the draft, and that w/kg performance would determine the outcome of the stage.
The yellow jersey on the shoulders of Le Court, she began pacing the GC group at the bottom of the Madeleine, but it took a few kilometers for the pace to take its toll. With 12km to go, Gigante attacked out of a steep switchback, and it wasn’t long until she dropped Ferrand-Prévot, Vollering, and nearly the entire GC group.
But Ferrand-Prévot was waiting, watching, and calculating. She saw that Vollering could not close the gap, and that’s when the Frenchwoman bridged across to Gigante. Vollering was less than 100 meters behind, but this was the beginning of the end for the former Tour de France Femmes winner.
With 8.7km to go, Ferrand-Prévot dropped Gigante straight off her wheel. No attack, no big acceleration, she didn’t even get out of the saddle. Ferrand-Prévot was simply too strong. The Frenchwoman would go on to win the stage nearly two minutes ahead of Gigante, and over three minutes ahead of Vollering. It was one of the greatest climbing performances in women’s cycling history.
Ferrand-Prévot – Col de la Madeleine
- Time: 1:04:49
- Estimated Average Power: ~5w/kg
- Gigante: 1:06:34 at 4.8w/kg
The final stage of the Tour de France Femmes featured a tricky 124.1km profile and the HC Col de Joux Plane in the middle of the race. While Ferrand-Prévot had a healthy gap, Gigante had Vollering and the rest hot on her heels, especially since stage 9 featured a number of twisting descents.
As expected, Gigante attacked on the Col de Joux Plane. But her biggest problem? There was still 67km to go. The Australian couldn’t shake the GC contenders, and after a few kilometers, she stopped pacing. After the group slowed, Gigante attacked again…and again…and again. But she couldn’t get away.
One kilometer before the Col de Joux Plane summit, Vollering put in an attack of her own, but she too could not get a gap. Vollering attacked into the descent, stringing out the GC group, and it wasn’t long before Gigante was gapped. The Australian would go on to lose nearly four minutes by the end of the stage, but her climbing performances have offered a glimpse of her incredible potential.
Looking at the power data, it’s clear that no one (apart from Ferrand-Prévot, perhaps) had the same legs as they did on the Col de la Madeleine. There were attacks and splits everywhere, but Gigante’s climbing performance was about 10% lower than the previous day’s.
Ferrand-Prévot – Col de Joux Plane
- Time: 42:40
- Estimated Average Power: ~4.6w/kg
- Gigante: 42:46 at 4.6w/kg
The GC group worked together for most of the remaining kilometers, happy to improve their GC placings, and for some riders, that meant moving onto the podium. But once the gap to Gigante exceeded three minutes, the games began because the stage win was still up for grabs. Vollering tried to attack on the final climb, but it was none other than the yellow jersey herself who put in the biggest dig with 6.6km to go.
Ferrand-Prévot sprinted up the left hand side of the road, immediately gapping the rest of the group just before the steepest section of the climb. With 5.5km to go, Ferrand-Prévot already had a 10-second gap, and a few kilometers later, she took an epic victory: solo in the yellow jersey to win the stage and the Tour de France Femmes.
It is difficult to put the gravity of Ferrand-Prévot’s performance into words. Her list of palmares is annoyingly long, and it includes Olympic gold, world championships, and wins across road, MTB, gravel, and CX racing. Ferrand-Prévot had focused on MTB racing for the past few years, which culminated in winning the gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games.
Exactly one year later, Ferrand-Prévot has now won the Tour de France Femmes. She had already won Paris-Roubaix Femmes earlier this year, a victory that most riders would be happy to retire with. But now she has proven herself as one of the greatest climbers in women’s cycling history. Who knows what is next for Ferrand-Prévot. It seems like anything she sets her mind to, she can win in less than a year’s time.
Power Analysis data courtesy of Strava
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