Demi Vollering snatches yellow jersey in daring attack to win Tour de France Femmes stage 8

In a dramatic finale, Demi Vollering launched a savage acceleration to break the resolve of yellow jersey Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney to seize the race lead on the penultimate day of the race.

The FDJ United-SUEZ rider attacked with 6km to go on an uncategorised ascent, breaking Canyon-SRAM's leader and Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team l'Imad) in the final few metres. She extended her lead as the road swivelled and swirled into Nice to move into the race lead by eight seconds.

Longo Borghini out-sprinted Niewiadoma-Phinney to take second place on the stage, with a chase group led home by Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) 38 seconds down.

Vollering was in second place on the overall classification coming into the stage, 15 seconds down on Niewiadoma-Phinney, having been put to the sword by the Pole on the mythical climb to Mont Ventoux on Friday. The pendulum swung rapidly back in the direction of the Dutchwoman on the road to Nice.

Vollering said afterwards that she still believed that she could win the race despite the disappointment of Ventoux..

"In a stage race you live day by day, so you can be disappointed overnight, but then the next morning you need to put on a new mask and you go again. You try again, you make a plan with the team," she said.

"Somehow we made it happen. I think this is to prove that if you really believe in something, if you really dream big about something, then it doesn't matter what it needs to take, how much pain it will cost you, together with good people around you, you will make it happen. You just need to have the good people around you," Vollering added, praising her team mates.

The race for the yellow jersey at the 2026 Tour de France Femmes will come down to a final stage around Nice with four ascents of the challenging Col d'Eze climb to be negotiated.

Despite moving into the lead so late-on in the race, Vollering is aware that the battle for yellow is not yet over.

"Tomorrow it's gonna be super hard, of course. It's what I said since the beginning of the Tour, still everything can happen on the last day. At least I start in yellow tomorrow, and it's already a dream coming true."

'I won two stages and I have yellow on my shoulders for this moment, so that's already super special. We're going to try everything to keep that yellow tomorrow."

How it happened

There was big news on the airwaves before the penultimate stage of the 2026 Tour de France got underway in Sisteron, as defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) withdrew from the race due to illness.

Canyon-SRAM were keen to allow a breakaway to drift up the road never to be seen again due to Vollering's close proximity to Niewiadoma-Phinney's lead.

It was Loes Adegeest (Lidl-Trek) and Maeva Squiban (UAE Team l’Imad) who took up the mantle, growing a lead that hit a maximum of 6:30 with various teams, including FDJ United-SUEZ, pursuing behind in the hopes of setting up a finish suited to their leaders.

The race between break and peloton appeared in the balance into the final third of the day, with the gap slowly coming down. As the race entered the crucial final 20km, which included two category four ascents and a steep uncategorised rise which topped-out with 6km to go, the gap to the leaders was still around two minutes.

Approaching the first climb, the Côte de Colomars, the pace was increased in the peloton and the gap plummeted. Zöe Backstedt led the bunch onto the climb for Niewiadoma-Phinney to control things. Squiban crashed out of the breakaway on the descent, meaning Adegeest was forced to go alone. The Lidl-Trek rider held 40 seconds going into the last 10km.

Franziska Koch drove the peloton onto the final classified climb of the Côte de la Ginestière, looking to set up an opportunity for Vollering, with all the stage favourites on the wheel. Koch’s pace brought Adegeest back by the top of the climb, with only 20 riders still in touch with the front. Green jersey Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-ProTime) was dropped in the final kilometre of the Ginestière and Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) had already been distanced.

The riders tackled the final steep kicker before a rapid descent into Nice with 6km left. Vollering attacked instantly and got an initial gap, before being closed down by Longo Borghini and Niewiadoma-Phinney. With that trio together, Vollering went again on the 17% ramps, going solo and cracking the yellow jersey at the top, but only with a five second advantage heading into a spaghetti-like descent.

Vollering was building her lead as the road went flat along the coastline, even as Longo Borghini worked with Niewiadoma-Phinney. She won the stage by 17 seconds, meaning that she now has a lead of eight seconds over the Pole heading into the final stage with bonus seconds factored in.