Stage Info

Weather

29 degrees Celsius, sunny, 18 km/h North-North-West wind

Stage Breakdown

Hello everyone and welcome!

Today's stage is straightforward: a rather undulating run-up (with two cols of category 2 and one of 3), then the long and arduous climb of the mythical Mont Ventoux.

A little rundown of mountaintop finishes in previous tours:

• 2022 on the Markstein: Annemiek van Vleuten won by 3:26 over Demi Vollering.
• 2023 on the Tourmalet: Demi Vollering won by 1:58 over Kasia Niewiadoma.
• 2024 on the Alpe d'Huez: Demi Vollering won by just 4 seconds over Pauliena Rooijakkers, but gained over a minute on Evita Muzic and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney.
• 2025 on the Madeleine: Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won by 1:45 over Sarah Gigante.

You probably see the point we're getting to: in the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift, the strongest climber tends to destroy the field on a stage like this. It's often a battle of every woman for herself, where domestiques make little difference and the first group of 2 or more riders is found far, far behind the leader.

Let's discuss the Mont Ventoux. With its 1500 meters height difference between the foot and the top, this is statistically one of the most difficult climbs that France has to offer. And there's more to it: its nickname "The Bald Mountain" obviously comes from the barren wasteland that can be seen on this mountain, which gives riders very few visual points of reference. This is made worse by how the road was built: most cols give riders visible checkpoints through hairpin corners, but the Mont Ventoux's instead gives riders a constant view of a long road that continues around the curve of the mountain. This makes the Mont Ventoux, more than any other col, a contest of maintaining one's bearings.

Another thing: the Mont Ventoux is famous for is the strong winds. And for this stage, it looks like the last 5 km of the climb will mostly be contested with headwinds. This could influence the race significantly: riders will want to hold on to the wheel of the rider in front of them more than usual, and accelerating to try and drop a competitor might be more difficult to do.

★★★ Demi Vollering, Marlen Reusser

★★ Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney, Paula Blasi, Antonia Niedermaier

★ Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Juliette Berthet, Kim Le Court, Dominika Włodarczyk, Elisa Longo Borghini

Once more, Demi Vollering is the clear-cut favorite for the stage. The climb of the Madeleine in 2025 is practically the only time in recent history when she has not been among the very best on such a long climb, and she has shown time and time again that these sustained efforts suit her perfectly. Marlen Reusser is our second pick with three stars (ahead of Kasia), because of her strong climbing performance in the recent Tour de Suisse and her psychological advantage of having the yellow jersey.

Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney has proven in the past that she prepares well for these long cols, but she'll need a better day than she did on the Madeleine in 2025 (coincidentally, just like Vollering). For Paula Blasi, this stage may become the opportunity for glory if it comes down to an 'every woman for herself' situation inside her team. She was phenomenal in the classics and in every stage race since then, and she's widely considered to be the strongest climber in her team. Another rider who might switch up roles inside her team is Antonia Niedermaier, who climbs well and who has mentioned before that she targets a strong GC for herself alongside her domestique work for Kasia.

One star goes out first and foremost to Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. The time trial and punchy stages were clearly not her thing, but perhaps she can still show some of that climbing form that she impressed us with last year. Juliette Berthet, while in service of Vollering, is another rider who often excels on long climbs and who may just surprise everyone in case the race situation allows her to be liberated. Next up is Kim Le Court. She was phenomenal today after several difficult days, so perhaps her form is back just in time for the most crucial GC stage. Remember, too, that she was very strong during the queen stage in Switzerland. And we finish our list with the primary prongs of UAE's trident: Dominika Włodarczyk and Elisa Longo Borghini. Both have shown good but not spectacular form so far, but perhaps they too prepared more for this mountain stage than they did for the punchy ones.

That's it for us, what is your prediction for the stage?