Tour de France Femmes: eighth and final stage to Alpe d’Huez – live | Tour de France Femmes
Key events
63km to go:Alex gets in touch: “Even as a cycling sicko I understand why TV stations don’t want to show the opening kms of any stage/race. However, it would be nice if streaming services would offer us something to fiend on.”
So does Colin: “I would be interested in reasons for lack of coverage, in particular for Eurosport is it their choice? On the breakaway they almost seem embarrassed by it so it is hard to tell.”
The main given reasons is the cost of the outside broadcast. That this is Le Tour, the richest race in the whole sport, and that’s it 2024 and governing bodies really ought to know that it is within their remit – and duty – to push women’s sport is another argument. A surprisingly unpopular one, it seems, given some of the comments received for suggesting this needs to be addressed.
Movement in the field meanwhile: Ghekiere is 40 seconds off the leading break, and dropping back to the yellow jersey group. The polka jersey is to be defended, too, though she has a 15-point gap on Puck Pieterse. This race is really shaping up.
65km to go: And it’s live! There’s about 15km of the Glandon left and the break’s lead over the peloton is slowly dwindling. Just over a minute now. The next few clicks are when we expect Vollering to be slingshotted up the hill.
Katarzyna Niewiadoma is bidding to hold on to her yellow jersey. Photograph: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images
68km to go: The break is now reduced to 17 riders, as they begin the penultimate climb – the Col du Glandon – and the gap is down to 1’ 10 to the Niewiadoma group. It feels like the peloton will come together – in reduced form – on this climb but this race has been highly unpredictable all week. Perhaps the one thing we can expect is the chase of Vollering after those lost seconds. This could be her moment. Ghekiere has dropped out of virtual yellow, by the way.
87.3km to go: The breakaway set off on an intermediate sprint. Lorena Wiebes wins the intermediate sprint, ahead of Christine Majerus and Olivia Baril. There’s meanwhile been a couple of abandonments after a crash – Ilse Pluimers (AG Insurance-Soudal Team) and. Alison Avoine (St-Michel-Mavic-Auber93) left the race earlier. High drama indeed, but the race is not being shown in full. The Vuelta today missed the first quarter – but it’s only the second day, rather than the final stage. As our correspondent says, it will start broadcasting at 4pm France time, 3pm here. Questions to be answered – and asked, too.
The green jersey is already set to be on Marianne Vos’s shoulders, barring problems in today’s stage.
100km to go:
Due there being a lack of live TV pics for reasons discussed but never satisfactorily solved, the race is being televised only for the last three hours or so. Which is a shame as the race has gone like gangbusters, with a 22-rider break. Ghekiere, Saturday’s stage winner, who has been dangerous on the climbs all week is in virtual yellow after the ascent and descent of the Col de Tanie.
Preamble
And it all comes down to this, and on perhaps the greatest mountain pass in all cycling. Perhaps there are others of more difficulty – the Alto de l’Angliru in the Vuelta or the Colle delle Finestre in the Giro, say – but it is the Queen stage of any Tour.
Feel free, by the way, to send in your picks for the toughest climbs in cycling. But until then, Katarzyna Niewiadoma must defend her yellow jersey, with the prize at the end not just a stage win, but the entire race. Can Demi Vollering make her move? That didn’t happen on Saturday despite a wealth of expectation. It must happen today if Vollering is to defend her crown. And there are other contenders, too. Can Puck Pieterse have a go? How about another Ceydrine Kerbaol getaway? So many possibilities.
