All eyes were on yellow jersey wearer Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) and race favorite Demi Vollering (SD Worx - Protime) as they ascended Le Grand-Bornand during the penultimate stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. The stage featured a mountaintop finish and plenty of vertical metres in between but resulted in a stalemate among the top contenders.
With 10 riders all within 1:27 in the General Classification, the stage was poised for drama as the Tour reached the Alps. But between a breakout ride by stage winner Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance—Soudal Team) and cautious riding by yellow jersey, the GC remained much the same.
Vollering had ridden herself into the yellow after the Stage 3 time trial but slipped down the GC after a big crash in stage 5, when Niewiadoma seized the maillot jaune. Vollering entered the stage 1:19 down on the Polish rider, and many expected her to use the climb into Chinaillon to narrow the gap.
While she tested Niewiadoma with a few short surges on the final kilometres, the yellow jersey was quick to jump on her wheel. Vollering did manage to beat Niewiadoma to the line, gaining a few precious bonus seconds and reducing her deficit to 1:15 heading into the final stage.
"I don't believe it was our responsibility to close the gap. We don't have the yellow jersey, in fact, we're like ninth or 10th on the GC, so it's far from our responsibility," commented Niamh Fisher, Vollering’s key domestique on the climbs.
"The plan was to see if Demi could make some difference on the climb but it was a difficult climb because we're talking about slopes of four percent so it's difficult to get a gap."
So now, it will all come down to the Queen Stage, a monster mountain stage that will see the peloton tackle the Col du Glandon (19.7km at 7.2%) before finishing atop the iconic Alpe d’Huez (13.8km at 8.1%). Fisher admitted that perhaps going into the last stage with a gap can be risky but expressed confidence in the team's ability to reclaim the jersey.
"Tomorrow is a whole different playing ground," she explained. "The Alpe d'Huez, and the Col du Glandon before it, are so steep. I think minutes will already be made on the Glandon. A minute-15 doesn't sound much to me if I think about tomorrow."
As the second-best climber on the SD Worx-Protime team, Fisher will have to stick with Vollering for as long as she can and deliver her to the base of the climbs if she can.
"It's a team game, for sure," Fisher said. "[Canyon-SRAM) has a group of strong climbers so they can play some cards there. It's not going to be easy."
