{"id":199243,"date":"2025-08-01T08:03:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T08:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=199243"},"modified":"2025-08-01T08:05:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T08:05:13","slug":"le-court-pienaar-extends-gc-lead-as-maeva-squiban-makes-french-hearts-race-with-32km-solo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2025\/08\/01\/le-court-pienaar-extends-gc-lead-as-maeva-squiban-makes-french-hearts-race-with-32km-solo\/","title":{"rendered":"Le Court Pienaar Extends GC Lead as Ma\u00ebva Squiban Makes French Hearts Race With 32km Solo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is current race leader Kim Le Court Pienaar riding for the yellow jersey in the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (TdFFaZ)? The question has to be asked after her performance on Thursday\u2019s stage 6, the first real mountain stage, which included two tough climbs over its 123.7km from Clermont Ferrand to Ambert. Because the AG Insurance\u2013Soudal leader raced ferociously for all the bonus points on offer and rode hard at the end to deprive race favorite Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) of the final 4 bonus seconds on offer at the finish.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Is she racing for yellow?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

With the big mountain stages to come on the weekend, with a summit finish on the iconic Col de la Madeleine (18.9km @ 8%) on Saturday\u2019s queen stage, Le Court Pienaar leads the GC by 26 seconds over home favorite Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot, with Niewiadoma-Phinney in third, at 30 seconds, and Vollering 1 second farther back in fourth. The Mauritian champion has collected a whopping 34 bonus seconds so far, which is the reason she leads the race. Vollering has picked up only 6 bonus seconds. In last year\u2019s TdFFaZ, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney<\/a> beat Vollering by only 4 seconds. So, Le Court Pienaar might have a more ambitious goal than picking up stage wins and riding in yellow for as long as possible.<\/p>\n

She certainly rode confidently on the stage\u2019s category 1 and category 2 climbs and never looked like cracking even on the steepest sections. So, until she says or does otherwise, she must now be included in the group of favorites, which also comprises Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot (Visma\u2013Lease a Bike), Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx\u2013Protime), Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon\/\/SRAM-zondacrypto) and Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck).<\/p>\n

A French heroine<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The heroine of stage 6 was the unheralded 23-year-old Ma\u00ebva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ), who attacked 3km from the summit of the last climb, the category 2 Col du Chansert (6.4km @ 5.4%), gradually built out her gap on the long descent and completed a bold 32.3km solo to notch her first ever WorldTour win and the second French stage win in the TdFFaZ. Another French rider, Juliette Labous (FDJ-Suez), finished second, 1:09 adrift, while Le Court Pienaar came third, 4 seconds farther back.<\/p>\n

The young Frenchwoman\u2019s victory was all the more remarkable because her team had been reduced to only four of its original seven riders. UAE leader Elisa Longo Borghini, who won the Giro d\u2019Italia two weeks before this race began, was forced to drop out after stage 3 due to an intestinal virus. Two other UAE riders subsequently abandoned after crashing, which left Squiban\u2019s team drastically short-handed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredible. I don\u2019t know what to say,\u201d a still tearful Squiban said after the biggest win of her career. “When they told me I had [a lead of] a minute and a half, I couldn\u2019t believe it. I mainly wanted to get a head start before the climb to the bonus sprint. Then I was hoping to be part of a small group from the bonus sprint to the finish. It’s really an amazing feeling. I didn’t expect to do that.<\/p>\n

“I know we had a strong team, we are only four now, but we are all really strong, and we knew that we were able to do something big today. Finally, we did it. A special day for us.”<\/p>\n

After the crashes of the previous day\u2019s stage, which saw no fewer than nine riders drop out, Thursday\u2019s race was relatively uneventful, with a large breakaway riding ahead of the peloton but kept on a tight leash by AG Insurance\u2013Soudal because Le Court Pienaar wanted another stage win.<\/p>\n

Asked about her feelings after another podium finish, she said, “It could only have been better if I won the stage. I felt really good today. The goal was to control the race. At the beginning we kind of got a bit stuck with the big break, so we had to kind of control the race from the start, which was OK… My teammates were superb, I mean I couldn’t ask for a better team. They’re so dedicated to me and to the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

But what exactly is the goal?<\/p>\n

A historic stage win<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The TdFFaZ GC battle actually kicked off on the last, and hardest, of the three categorized climb of Wednesday\u2019s stage 5, the category 3 ascent to Le Maupuy (2.7km @ 5.3%), with an attack by Vollering 9km from the finish line. She took six riders with her, including all the GC contenders, and the group gradually pulled away from the chasers. With 7km left to ride, that gap had ballooned to 20 seconds.<\/p>\n

The lead group was still together when the riders hit the final kilometer and had a lead of 31 seconds over the chasers. Van der Breggen attacked 700m from the line but was quickly caught and eventually passed by Le Court Pienaar and Vollering, who rode an excellent sprint but could not catch the Mauritian, who became the first African rider to win a stage in the TdFFaZ. She also regained the yellow jersey, which she had lost to Marianne Vos (Visma\u2013Lease a Bike) after stage 3.<\/p>\n

Though Vollering looked uncertain on that final climb, her ride on the descent and in the sprint, where she came within a whisper of pipping Le Court, suggests that the injuries she sustained in a heavy crash near the end of Monday\u2019s stage 3 appear to be healing. (For a comprehensive description of the stage, please see here<\/a>.).<\/p>\n

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P\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek sd\u00edlen\u00fd Tour de France\u2122 (@letourdefrance)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n