Maeva Squiban escapes to second stage win in a row at Tour de France Femmes as GC favourites finish together

Maeva Squiban made it two wins in two days on stage seven of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, soloing to a famous victory in Chambéry.

The 23-year-old UAE Team ADQ rider attacked over the top of the Col du Granier and held on on the descent to do it again after she soloed to the win on stage six in Ambert on Thursday.

Behind, the GC riders finished more or less together after coming to a stalemate on the run-in, with Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) finishing in second, and Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) in third.

The yellow jersey, Kim Le Court, was briefly dropped on the Granier, but fought back on the descent to finish with her GC rivals.

"It’s incredible," she said post-stage. "This morning, I said OK I’ll attack at kilometre 0, finally I did it. It was an amazing day. I think my sports director is proud of what we did today."

Squiban's victories represent a turnaround for UAE Team ADQ's Tour de France, after the team lost their leader Elisa Longho Borghini before stage three, and are down to just four riders.

Her win on stage six was just the second by a Frenchwoman at the Tour, but now the country has three - two of which belong to Squiban.

How it happened

A flurry of attacks started stage seven of the Tour de France Femmes, but it took around 20km until the first riders broke clear on this transitional stage in Savoie. A 17 rider group formed, however: Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime), Chloé Dygert (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Marie Le Net (FDJ-SUEZ), Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ), Eline Jansen (VolkerWessels), Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal), Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek), Megan Jastrab (Picnic-PostNL), Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health), Célia Le Mouel (CERATIZIT), Mareille Meijering (Movistar), Maud Rijnbeek (VolkerWessels), Alice Maria Arzuffi (Labora Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi), Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek), Alicia González (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93), Fiona Mangan (Winspace-Orange-Seal), Susanne Andersen (Uno-X Mobility).

The break had well over four minutes of advantage in the early part of the stage, before the peloton started to bring it down towards the finish.

A crash for Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) saw the Italian abandon the race with over 100km to go on the day.

At the intermediate sprint in Groslée-Saint-Benoît, Mangan took the points. The first classified climb of the day came with 51km to go, with González, Andersen, Brand and Mangan dropping back before the action really started going uphill.

Atop the Côte de Saint-Franc, Squiban, stage six’s winner, took the points, as the break grew smaller again. The Breton repeated the feat on the Côte de Berland.

With 29km to go, 13 riders remained out front, but on the Col du Granier, Squiban, Meijering and Edwards pushed on, before Squiban dropped everyone else to go solo towards the top of the climb.

Meanwhile, the yellow jersey Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) was dropped from the peloton, along with Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck). In the group of favourites, Pauliena Rooijakers (Fenix-Deceuninck) forged on, along with Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Demi Vollering (FDJ-SUEZ) and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike).

Squiban pushed on alone, taking the points at the top of the Granier. Meijering, Van Anrooij and Edwards chased behind, but it did not look like they would catch the Frenchwoman out front.

Vollering pushed the pace as the race approached the top of the Granier, attempting to take control of the descent, but close to the finish in Chambéry, Le Court caught her GC rivals.

In the run-in, Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) hit out in search of bonus seconds, and finished second behind a rampant Squiban.

Results

Tour de France Femmes stage seven: Bourg-en-Bresse > Chambéry (159.7km)

1. Maeva Squiban (Fra) UAE Team ADQ, in 3:58:26
2. Cédrine Kerbaol (Fra) EF Education-Oatly +51s
3. Ruth Edwards (USA) Human Powered Health, at same time
4. Shirin van Anrooij (Ned) Lidl-Trek +53s
5. Dominika Włodarczyk (Pol) UAE Team ADQ +1:00
6. Kim Le Court (Mau) AG Insurance-Soudal
7. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SD Worx-Protime
8. Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ-SUEZ
9. Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol) Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto
10. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZl) Lidl-Trek, all at same time

General classification after stage seven

1. Kim Le Court (Mau) AG Insurance-Soudal, in 22:28:31
2. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike, +26s
3. Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol) Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto, +30s
4. Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ-SUEZ, + 31s
5. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, +35s
6. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, +1:04
7. Cédrine Kerbaol (Fra) EF Education-Oatly, +1:09
8. Sarah Gigante (Aus) AG Insurance-Soudal, +1:14
9. Evita Muzic (Fra) FDJ-SUEZ, +1:35
10. Juliette Labous (Fra) FDJ-SUEZ, at same time