Gritty Climber Triumphs in Stage 7 of Tour de France Femmes

‘Queen of the Mountains’ leader Justine Ghekiere led a break to win Stage 7 in the Tour de France Femmes.

‘Queen of the Mountains’ Justine Ghekiere / Escape Collective

Stage 7 of the Tour de France Femmes is in the books, with only the final 92.6-mile decisive mountain stage to the Alpe d’Huez standing in the way of the eventual champion. The Tour de France Femmes’ return to the world stage in 2022 has highlighted women’s cycling, and this year’s Tour has supercharged the sport with exciting and competitive racing. Demi Vollering, the defending race champion, continues to chase the Maillot Jaune Kasia Niewiadoma.

The 2024 Tour de France Femmes runs from August 12-18. The race began in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and will end today on the iconic Alpe D’Huez, France. The Alpe D’Huez represents the toughest final stage to the Tour de France Femmes in its three-year history on the world stage after a brief hiatus.

Stage 7 (Aug 17): Champagnole to Le Grand-Bornand (103.8-miles) - The longest and one of the most challenging stages. Stage 7 gained approximately 10,000 vertical feet, and proved to be a long and exhausting experience for the GC contenders. Tour Race Director, Marion Rouse, described Stage 7: “The longest stage of this 2024 edition will begin with a number of smallish hurdles, plus the long haul up the Col de la Croix de la Serra (12km at 5.1%), from the Saint-Claude side. It concludes with a new and steep finish at Chinaillon (7km, 5.1%), an authentic hamlet with traditional chalets on the flanks of the Col de la Colombière.”

The Leaders - Tour de France Femmes / Escape Collective

‘Queen of the Mountains’ leader Justine Ghekiere led a breakaway late in the stage, that included defending champion Demi Vollering and race leader Kasia Niewiadoma. Ghekiere prevailed to take the stage win. Vollering played a strategic game all day, hugging the wheel of race leader Kasia Niewiadoma on the final climb to Le Chenaillon. Vollering took third place and set a déjà vu scenario heading into the final Stage on the Alpe d’Huez.  “It wasn’t steep enough,” Vollering told Dutch national broadcaster NOS after the stage. “It was a long, boring day that crawls into your legs. So I chose the wheel of Kasia. If you take the lead, everyone is able to profit from your efforts. I didn’t want to do that today. I wanted to make Kasia nervous and I think I did. That felt nice. My hopes are for tomorrow now - we get more real climbs and that will hopefully be enough for me.”

This is setting up exactly like last year’s Tour de France when Vollering  was over a minute down to race leader Lotte Kopecky before the penultimate stage to the Col du Tourmalet. There, she was dominant, winning the stage and the prestigious race.  Now the defending champion trails Niewiadoma by 1:15, but appears poised to perform well against contenders Mediacom, Puck Pieterse, and Juliette Labous in the final stage.

Demi Vollering Stage 7 / Photo by Dario Belingheri/Getty Images

All hopes hinge on the iconic Alpe d’ Huez where high altitude and vicious climbs awaits. The final stage covers 93-miles (149.9km) between Le Grand-Bornand and Alpe d’Huez, taking in the second-category Col du Tamié before the hors-category Col du Glandon (19.9km at 7.2%) and finishing on Alpe d’Huez (14km at 7.9%). Vollering appears confident and prepared to defend her Tour title. “It’s hard to say how strong Kasia is. But we still have to see if I’m good enough to close the gap with her in GC. I have a good feeling about it.”