The race gets harder and harder<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Nadia Gontova was dropped but fought her way back to the front group, with Sarah Van Dam sitting comfortably in the reduced bunch. Eventually Gontova would fall off the pace again.<\/p>\n
Maeva Squiban then went solo and opened a small gap. Then, things really got spicy.
With 35 km to go, three laps remaining on Camillien-Houde, a group of eight went clear before Demi Vollering launched with just 38 km to go.<\/p>\n
She immediately opened a huge gap on the field.<\/p>\n Behind her, a group containing several of the big favourites was around 30 seconds back.<\/p>\n There were 9 riders in full pursuit of the Tour de France Femmes champion: fellow Dutch rider, Puck Pieterse, Elisa Longo Borghini, Marlen Reusser, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, Dominika W\u0142odarczyk, Juliette Labous, C\u00e9lia Gery and Maeva Squiban.<\/p>\n Time trial world champion Reusser put in some massive turns with Pieterse monitoring the chase for her teammate Vollering.<\/p>\n Attack after attack after attack<\/p>\n The chase kept Vollering close, however, with her lead never getting more than just over 20 seconds. But what was left of the peloton wasn\u2019t too far behind the chase.<\/p>\n The chase group alternated between pulls and attacks as all of the favourites tried to bridge to Vollering. Phinney went to the front along with Borghini and W\u0142odarczyk and Gery were popped. The gap to Vollering began dropping with the Pole and Italian coming within 19 seconds. However, the duo was quickly caught by the remainder of the break\u2013as the gap continued to drop\u2013barely. Vollering hammered up the Cote de Polytechnique just as Niewiadoma-Phinney took a flyer, and took Borghini with her, getting within breathing room of Vollering.<\/p>\n With over one lap to go, the trio of Niewiadoma-Phinney, Borghini and Berthet were just seven seconds behind.<\/p>\n Lead continues to change<\/p>\n Then with 16 km to go, Niewiadoma-Phinney made a huge effort, dragging Borghini with her and finally making the catch of Vollering. With 15 km left, they made the catch. Berthet did everything she could and caught the trio.<\/p>\n As the four pros came to the final lap, it was clear the winner would come from the trio, and that Camillien-Houde would most likely be the decider.<\/p>\n But that wasn\u2019t what Borghini was thinking\u2013she powered ahead with a brilliant surprise attak through the finish line, quickly getting a 10 second gap.<\/p>\n The trio then sat up, briefly playing chat et souris until Vollering took over again.<\/p>\n Final climb up Mont Royal<\/p>\n The last time up Camilien Houde, Vollering and Niewiadoma-Phinney distanced Berthet and were within breathing room of the Italian. With just 200 m to go on the climb, it was game on with the trio forming. Vollering took to the front and rode tempo, but couldn\u2019t drop her breakaway companions.<\/p>\n And then it was clear\u2013once again the Pole and the Dutch ace were away in similar scenes as the duels we saw at the 2026 Tour de France Femmes.<\/p>\n For Niewiadoma-Phinney, she was running out of spots to try and make a move on Vollering, however. The Dutch rider has always been faster in the sprints, so the Polish superstar had to find a place to try and drop her\u2013no tall order.<\/p>\n But then another twist in a simply bonkers race\u2013Borghini came achingly close to the duo but Vollering attacked, with Niewiadoma-Phinney countering with 3.8 km to go.<\/p>\n That seemed to seal Borghini\u2019s chances to join them and it was clear she was now racing for bronze\u2013the only problem was now, Reusser had her in her sights.<\/p>\n The crazy finale<\/p>\n But still, the question as to the rainbow jersey was still up in the air.<\/p>\n They couldn\u2019t mess around too much with the Italian not giving up, and they both took a few more pulls in the final kilometre. Borghini was right there as the lead duo began their sprint-a-deux.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SarahVanDamworlds.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: Nick Iwanyshyn<\/p>\n
With two laps to go, the race was hardly over as the chase was just 20 seconds behind Vollering who was in full flight. With two more times left up Camillien-Houde, her lead grew to just over half a minute. Niewiadoma-<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/VolleringWins.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: Nick Iwanyshyn<\/p>\n