{"id":729740,"date":"2026-08-06T21:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T21:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/729740\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T21:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T21:26:10","slug":"tour-de-france-femmes-reusser-stays-ahead-as-le-court-savours-stage-win-tour-de-france-femmes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/729740\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour de France Femmes: Reusser stays ahead as Le Court savours stage win | Tour de France Femmes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marlen Reusser retained the overall lead in the Tour de France Femmes<\/a> from rival Demi Vollering after another broiling stage through central France saw Kim Le Court take the second Tour stage win of her career in Tournon-sur-Rhone.<\/p>\n

The Mauritian rider Le Court recovered from a mechanical problem earlier in the stage on the climb of the Col de Lalouvesc to join the day\u2019s breakaway group and outsprint C\u00e9drine Kerbaol of France, and Queen of the Mountains classification leader, Puck Pieterse.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was on the limit,\u201d Le Court said of her winning sprint. \u201cI can\u2019t believe I still had the legs to sprint. It was really hard, this close, before I could give up. I will never give up after the big effort my team did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Le Court had originally been considered a contender for final victory but lost ground after Tuesday\u2019s individual time trial. \u201cI\u2019ve been really struggling since the time trial day but I think this really makes our Tour,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve still got ambitions for the general classification, but winning a stage in a Tour de France is very special. People don\u2019t really remember top 10 or top five riders in Tour, but they do remember stage winners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Le Court\u2019s success is a popular one, after a difficult season in which she has dealt with serial injuries. But she has also shown considerable sportsmanship, stopping to help Kasia Niewiadoma after the 2024 Tour Femmes winner crashed heavily in Milan-San Remo.<\/p>\n

Despite missing out on the stage victory, it was a successful day for Pieterse as she now has 47 points in the mountain classification, the highest total ever recorded in the history of the Tour de France Femmes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to win the stage of course,\u201d Pieterse said, \u201cbut I think I did everything else today. I decided to gamble, but Kim was still the strongest in the sprint, so I don\u2019t think I can be too sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the heatwave continued, the peloton raced over six classified climbs into the Ardeche, with Friday\u2019s ascent of Mont Ventoux now very much in their thoughts.<\/p>\n

After three days she will want to forget, defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot arrested the decline in her form and finished the stage in the group of favourites alongside Reusser, Vollering and Niewiadoma. She is still languishing in 15th place overall, five minutes behind race leader Reusser, and on Wednesday had conceded that: \u201cIt\u2019s over.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, while her deficit seems almost insurmountable, her rivals will have taken note of her improved performance and of her experience of the Ventoux, which she first rode in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s the most iconic climb in France,\u201d Ferrand-Prevot said of the Proven\u00e7al mountain. \u201cEveryone knows about it, even if you\u2019re not a cyclist.\u201d<\/p>\n

The inclusion of the Ventoux in the Tour de France Femmes is the latest indicator of a race growing in stature, year by year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to align with the most mythical summits,\u201d Tour de France Femmes director Marion Rousse said. \u201cThey\u2019re part of the history of the Tour and the history of the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n

Sign up to The Recap<\/p>\n

The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend\u2019s action<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Both Vollering and Niewiadoma have prior experience of the mountain, but not at this level of racing, and only from the less demanding north side, rather than the more daunting southern ascent. However, there is no doubt that the ascent of the Ventoux, by a women\u2019s peloton that only a few years ago was derided by some for its abilities, will be a Rubicon moment.<\/p>\n

One rider who never shared those doubts is current race leader Reusser. \u201cIt\u2019s proof that human beings aren\u2019t always such a smart species,\u201d she said of those who had disparaged the women\u2019s peloton.<\/p>\n

Marlen Reusser shows her delight at retaining the lead. Photograph: Alex Broadway\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

In terms of past exploits by women on the \u201cGiant of Provence\u201d Nicole Cooke\u2019s solo attack over the Ventoux, which took her to overall victory in the 2006 Grande Boucle Feminine, is perhaps the most memorable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t suppose anybody wanted to chase me all the way up the Ventoux,\u201d Cooke recalled. \u201cThe heat was a big factor. People don\u2019t want to chase on a day when the heat is so debilitating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooke won the stage by four minutes and the race overall by more than six. \u201cAfter the finish, we went to a cafe and had ice-creams,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was one of the special days.\u201d<\/p>\n

At that time, women\u2019s cycling had little profile and media coverage was almost nonexistent. Cooke\u2019s achievement never really got the recognition it deserved, due to what she considered to be media\u2019s preoccupation with the prevalence of doping in men\u2019s cycling. The rebirth of the Tour de France Femmes however has dramatically reversed that trend. The heat will also be big factor in toFriday\u2019s stage to the Ventoux, 20 years after Cooke\u2019s own moment in the sun. But the inclusion of a climb that the French still call the \u201ckiller mountain\u201d, is a total vindication of the quantum leap achieved by the women\u2019s peloton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marlen Reusser retained the overall lead in the Tour de France Femmes from rival Demi Vollering after another…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-729740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}