Pauline Ferrand-Prévot says that she is going to go back to her hotel room after stage six of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and watch the race replay on television. She wants to "see the grimaces of some of [my rivals] and tell myself that they were maybe a little less good than me,” she told French media after the finish of a hilly stage to Chambéry on Friday. This is fighting talk.
Kasia Niewiadoma, the defending Tour champion, also did not mince her words after stage seven. She told reporters that the ascent of the 18km Col de la Madeleine on Saturday is going to be “brutal, interesting and nasty”. Outside her team bus, just a few hundred metres away from Niewiadoma, Sarah Gigante, a dark horse for the general classification, said that she hopes her rivals “live to regret” not taking advantage of her weaknesses on technical descents earlier in the race. Every single general classification contender is ready to go to battle.
For some, the games have already begun. Current yellow jersey wearer Kim Le Court criticised the tactics of Vollering’s FDJ-Suez squad in her post-race press conference after stage seven, claiming there was some foul play in the closing kilometres. The AG Insurance-Soudal rider had just caught back up to the group of GC favourites after being distanced on the final climb of the day and stated that she was blocked from making her way through the group by Vollering’s teammates as the Dutchwoman attacked up ahead.
“When I got back in the group, I got completely blocked by two FDJ riders at one point, which was really not nice. It is what it is – that’s cycling, that’s their tactics,” the race leader said with a wry smile.
“It was a silly moment, I got back in the group, we went around some roundabouts and the group stretched out. Demi got a big gap and Juliette [Labous] and then Évita [Muzic] completely blocked the road. It was a smaller path and I almost hit a barrier, but I didn't think about it and jumped straight away. In the end, they let me through. It is what it is. I was glad at the end I didn't lose time,” she concluded.
It’s understandable that the nerves in the peloton are high when considering the stakes in Saturday’s stage. The Col du Madeleine will be the hardest climbing test for the peloton of this entire season – this is where the GC race is truly going to be decided. The rolling, punchy stages that have shaped this Tour so far will likely be rendered insignificant when considering the time gaps by Saturday evening.
"It's going to be one hour 20 minutes, one hour 30 minutes of climbing," Ferrand-Prévot explained. "It's going to be an effort that I'm used to doing on a mountain bike. It's really going to be a one-on-one race, and I'm going to try to focus on myself and my effort. It's important to stay calm, pace myself, and do the best I can."
Niewiadoma is also expecting the Madeleine to put everyone in their place tomorrow. Staying calm, managing the pressure and keeping a cool head will be the key to potential yellow jersey success.
“Tomorrow is the hardest stage, we finish on Madeleine, and I do believe that everyone has that in mind. It is such a brutal and steep climb, it’ll be less about seconds here and there, and more a minute,” the Canyon//SRAM-Zondacrypto rider stated.
What makes this current state of play at the Tour de France so intriguing is how closely matched each general classification rider has seemed up until this point. Nothing about this route so far has managed to separate them, though there have been climbs with potential – which means that it is going to be down to the alpine to force splits between the GC favourites. Who will come out on top? Let the games continue.
“Seven or eight of us are on a very similar level, I feel like we are all well prepared,” Niewiadoma continued. “Anna [van der Breggen] or Pauline or Demi [Vollering], also Sarah Gigante, all show similar legs so far. I think tomorrow will reveal who is stronger.”
