The penultimate stage of the women’s Tour de France didn’t look decisive on paper. At not compared to the prior days summit finish on Mont Ventoux. But a late attack by FDJ United-Suez’s star rider, Demi Vollering put pressure on Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon SRAM), who started Saturday’s racing in the yellow leader’s jersey.
At the finish line, Vollering takes the stage win, but also the GC lead. The Dutch rider erased a 15 second deficit at the day’s start to finish Saturday with a narrow, eight second lead over her Polish rival.
Niewiadoma was less than impresed with FDJ’s tactics.
“Why did you do that?”
While the Canyon-SRAM leader says she wasn’t surprised by Vollering’s move, saying “They [FDJ] always have a plan, so I wasn’t surprised.”
Still, she still wasn’t happy with how the French team raced.
“It was super annoying at the beginning of the climb because [Célie] Gery, on purpose, just blocked me ito the barriers where I had to stop pedalling,” Niewiodama told reporters.
The moment was hard to see on camera during the live feed. The race hits a hard corner into the climb with Gery still on the front. As the riders disappear into the trees, the overhead view cuts to the feed from a race moto. By the time we get that view, Vollering is already attacking off of the front.
After the stage, Wielerflits caught the Canyon SRAM leader confronting Gery while the French national champion was being interviewed. Niewiadoma asks, quite pointedly, “Why did you do that? Why did you close me into the barriers? Was that the plan?”
To which the French rider just smiles and rolls away.
The Polish rider wasn’t mincing words with the press after the stage.
“I feel like if they want to compete, they should compete fairly. not just look to close me into the bariers. It’s so childish. Honestly, I lost all respect for them with that. ”
There’s still another day to race, though. While Niewiodama won’t start Sunday in yellow, she still has her eye on that iconic jersey.
“We still have the same goal: to get the yellow jersey. We need to talk as a team and evaluate what is the plan now.”
UPDATE: France TV found a better angle of the moment. It better shows Gery swinging off the front and then converging with Niewiadoma at the exit of the corner.
Here’s another angle of the moment.
— Matthewfromthepool (@1010101eeee) August 8, 2026