Paris 2024 Olympics - Mountain Bike - Women's Cross-country - Elancourt Hill, Elancourt, France - July 28, 2024. Pauline Ferrand Prevot of France celebrates winning gold. REUTERS/Matthew Childs/File Photo
CHATEL, France (Reuters) -Olympic champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot became the first Frenchwoman to win the Tour de France Femmes on Sunday, pushing through three punishing climbs to clinch the final stage ahead of 2023 champion Demi Vollering, who finished second overall.
The 33-year-old of team Visma–Lease a Bike held steady through the 124.1km ride from Praz-sur-Arly to Chatel, before launching a decisive attack in the last seven kilometres, and fell to the ground in tears after crossing the finish line.
"I'm so, so happy," Ferrand-Prevot told reporters. "I was a bit scared with the pressure of this jersey... I had to stick to the front and just stay there."
Vollering (FDJ–Suez) stayed in a group with Ferrand-Prevot for the majority of the ninth stage, but could not break away to make up her deficit of more than three minutes coming into the last day.
The Dutch rider finished second in the race for the second year in a row, losing out on the yellow jersey by three minutes and 42 seconds. Defending champion Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon–SRAM) finished third overall.
Ferrand-Prevot, who won gold in women's cross-country mountain biking at last year's Paris Games, had taken the yellow jersey from Kimberley Le Court on Saturday.
Australia's Sophia Gigante, who was second overall coming into the final stage, tried to get ahead of Ferrand-Prevot during the climb to Col de Joux Plane, known as one of cycling's toughest summits in the Alps, but the Frenchwoman stayed on her wheels.
Gigante fell behind as Ferrand-Prevot caught up with Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), who had taken an early lead, on the way to Col du Corbier, the final major climb of the 1,168.6km race.
The exhausted leading group was unable to keep up when Ferrand-Prevot launched her final attack and crossed the finish line 20 seconds before Vollering to huge applause from the crowd in Chatel.
Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx–Protime), who has led the points classification since stage three, cemented her position to deny Dutch compatriot Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) a third green jersey.
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in BengaluruEditing by Christian Radnedge)
