Demi Vollering Takes Tour de France Femmes Yellow on Stage 8

Demi Vollering won stage 8 of the Tour de France Femmes after a decisive late attack on the Chemin de l’Arieta, taking the maillot jaune with one stage remaining. The FDJ United-Suez rider finished 17 seconds ahead of Elisa Longo Borghini and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, overturning the race lead after losing 1:16 to Niewiadoma-Phinney on Mont Ventoux a day earlier.

Vollering completed the 171.9km stage from Sisteron to Nice in 4:02:39. With the finish-line time bonus included, she will begin the final stage around Nice eight seconds ahead of Canyon-SRAM rider Niewiadoma-Phinney in the general classification. Longo Borghini of UAE Team L’IMAD was second on the stage, with Niewiadoma-Phinney third on the same time.

The result reshaped the overall contest again on a demanding penultimate day. Vollering now has yellow on her shoulders, but the narrow margin means the final stage remains pivotal.

Late climb decides the stage and race lead

The race was initially controlled by a two-rider breakaway formed after roughly 25km by Maëva Squiban of UAE Team L’IMAD and Loes Adegeest of Lidl-Trek. Their advantage grew to six minutes, and they crossed the Col de Toutes Aures, the highest point of the stage, with 5:47 in hand.

The peloton began to reduce the gap on the road towards Nice. Liv AlUla Jayco and AG Insurance-Soudal contributed to the chase before FDJ United-Suez joined the work. The leaders still had 5:29 at the intermediate sprint with 66.2km remaining and five minutes at the 50km mark, but the margin fell quickly in the final 25km.

Squiban and Adegeest began the final 19km of climbing with 1:14 over the bunch. Their lead was down to one minute at the top of the Côte de Colomars. Squiban then crashed on the descent, leaving Adegeest alone at the front.

Adegeest reached the Côte de la Ginestière with 36 seconds left of her advantage and 10.2km to go. FDJ United-Suez set a fierce pace on the 2.5km climb, with Franziska Koch making major inroads before Juliette Berthet completed the catch with 9km remaining. The effort reduced the leading group to 14 riders by the summit, and Célia Gery maintained the pressure over the rolling roads that followed.

The decisive move came at the foot of the unclassified Chemin de l’Arieta, a 450-metre ramp averaging 13%. Vollering attacked immediately with 6km to go. Longo Borghini closed back to her, with Niewiadoma-Phinney on the Italian champion’s wheel, but Vollering accelerated twice more before the summit to drop both rivals.

Vollering began the descent with a three-second gap and extended it to 17 seconds by the line. Kim le Court Pienaar, Lotte Kopecky, Dominika Wlodarczyk, Sarah van Dam, Noemi Ruegg, Paula Blasi Cairol, Cédrine Kerbaol, Antonia Niedermaier and Marlen Reusser were among the riders who finished 38 seconds behind the winner.

Yellow jersey battle heads to final stage

Vollering said the turnaround followed disappointment on the previous stage. “In a stage race, you live day by day,” she said. “So you can be disappointed tonight, 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 added that starting the final day in yellow was already special, while acknowledging that the race remains open. “Tomorrow is going to be super hard,” Vollering said. “Still, everything can happen on the last day, but at least I start in yellow tomorrow.”

The stage was one of the longest in the history of women’s cycling when its 10.5km neutral zone was included. The peloton numbered 126 riders after 2025 Tour winner Pauline Ferrand-Prévot did not start. Vollering’s stage win, her second of the race, has now put the Tour de France Femmes title within reach, with Niewiadoma-Phinney only eight seconds behind going into the final test around Nice.