Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM) won stage 7 of the Tour de France Femmes on the Mont Ventoux, her first career stage victory in the race.
The 31-year-old Polish all-rounder had attacked with 9.7km to go and steadily increased her advantage, crossing the finish line 1:16 minutes ahead of Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ), who left GC leader Marlen Reusser (Movistar) behind in the last kilometre.
Coming from behind, Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team L'IMAD) also pushed past Reusser to finish third, 1:42 minutes down.
Having started the stage 1:17 minutes behind Reusser, Niewiadoma-Phinney also takes the yellow leader's jersey and now leads the Tour by 15 seconds on Vollering.
âIâm still speechless, but I just feel so much gratitude. This victory goes to so many people that were with me along this very long road without proper big wins," Niewiadoma-Phinney said after the finish.
"I'm just so tired and so blown away with what just happened. As we started to climb the Mont Ventoux, I looked right and I saw my parents. They made a surprise visit, I could see my dad crying, and I was like, âI just need to make them proudâ, So this victory goes to my family, my friends, my team, my husband Taylor [Phinney], to my coach Louis [Delahaije], and my team boss Ronny [Lauke]. They know how much effort I put into this victory and were always by my side, listening to my complaints. It's a long speech right now, but yeah, Iâm just blown away.â
Although she won the 2024 Tour de France Femmes, this is her first stage victory in the race.
âI never chase the victory for the sake of winning. I chase it for the sake of this beautiful feeling. I came here to Mont Ventoux with my friends and my husband, and we rode the climb three times. We had fun, we sprinted, we did efforts, and it was just about this amazing feeling from being here, at the top of the mountain.
"From that moment I just wanted to have that feeling coming here as well, this pure joy of riding, feeling like a kid. Racing or riding is so cool because we can go anywhere we want. I just love every pedal stroke,â the stage winner spoke about the joy of cycling.
Tactically, Niewiadoma-Phinney knew that she needed to create a gap in the forest and then just keep going.
âMy idea was that I need to make it to Chalet [Reynard] on my own. I knew that with the wind we had today, if somebody is chasing behind, then they will try to stay on the wheel as much as possible. It wasnât nice for me because there was a lot of headwind, but I knew that in the back they would gamble and just play the game,â she finished.
An historical climb up Mont Ventoux
Only 128 riders rolled out of La Voulte-sur-RhĂŽne as Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), Katrine Aalerud (Uno-X Mobility), and Kiara Lylyk (Mayenne Monbana MyPie) did not start the stage.
There were no attacks before the first climb, the second-category Col de la Grande Limite, and polka-dot jersey Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) took maximum points at the top. An attack by Jeanne Korevaar (Liv AlUla Jayco) led to a short-lived break of nine riders that was brought back ahead of the third-category Col du Colombier.
By also cresting this climb first, Pieterse extended her advantage in the mountain classification to 34 points, and with only 33 points on offer on the last two stages, she only needs to finish the Tour to win the polka-dot jersey.
After 70km in hot, sunny weather, several attacks eventually came together to form a break of 11 riders: Marit Raaijmakers (Human Powered Health), Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco), Mia Griffin (Picnic PostNL), Amalie Dideriksen (Cofidis), Idoia Eraso, Paula Patiño (both Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Marte Berg Edseth (Uno-X Mobility), Sandrine Tas, Romina Hinojosa (both Lotto-Intermarché), Clémence Latimier (Ma Petite Entreprise), and Fiona Mangan (Mayenne Monbana MyPie) quickly built a one-minute gap.
This left Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Sophie von Berswordt-Wallrabe (VolkerWessels) chasing in between. At the intermediate sprint in Beaumes-de-Venise with 48.9km to go, the chase duo was two minutes behind the front and one minute ahead of the peloton, and they gave up soon after and were caught by the bunch.
The breakaway fell apart on the second-category Col de Suzette, and the peloton quickly made up time now, being only 1:36 minutes behind at the top. On the rolling terrain to the unclassified Col de la Madeleine, some of the escapees were caught, and with Movistar taking control in the peloton, the gap was reduced further.
In BĂ©doin, the start of the 21-kilometre climb to the top of the Mont Ventoux, what remained of the break was only 20 seconds ahead. Latimier launched an attack but was quickly countered by Roseman-Gannon, who kept her attack going until she was reeled in with 17.9km to go.
Franziska Koch brought the FDJ United-Suez train with CĂ©lia Gery, Juliette Berthet, and Vollering to the front just as the climb started officially, 15.7km from the finish, and Gery followed the attack from ValliĂšres while Berthet continued to set the pace in the GC group where defending champion Pauline Ferrand-PrĂ©vot (Visma-Lease a Bike) had already lost contact. Her teammate Femke de Vries, Nienke Vinke (SD Worx-Protime), and stage 6 winner Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) also couldnât follow the pace.
When ValliĂšres was caught and dropped, only 14 riders remained at the front: Reusser, Vollering with Gery and Berthet, CĂ©drine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) and RĂŒegg, Niewiadoma-Phinney and Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM), Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) and Fisher-Black, Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease a Bike), and the UAE Team LâIMAD trio of Longo Borghini, Dominika Wlodarczyk, and Paula Blasi.
Fisher-Black attacked with 13.8km to go, but with RĂŒegg setting the pace, the New Zealander was caught and left behind 500 metres later. When RĂŒegg swung off with 11.2km to go, Gery and Bunel had also been dropped, and only nine riders remained at the front where Niedermaier briefly took the lead.
Volleringâs attack through a hairpin turn blew the group apart. Reusser and Niewiadoma-Phinney could follow the acceleration, Niedermaier and Blasi tried to but quickly had to leave a gap and eventually formed a chase group with Longo Borghini and Kerbaol.
At the 10km mark, the four chasers were 20 seconds behind. 300 metres later, Niewiadoma-Phinney made her move, and neither Reusser nor Vollering reacted immediately. Reusser then took Vollering on her wheel and started to chase, but Niewiadoma-Phinney eked out a 12-second advantage.
Vollering tried to drop Reusser twice, each time attacking from behind, and with 8.3km to go, the gap to Niewiadoma-Phinney was only seven seconds, but then Vollering let the yellow jersey do most of the work again, and the gap kept growing to a full minute at the Chalet Reynard, with the group around Longo Borghini another 20 seconds behind.
On the last 6.2km, the gap between the two chase groups didnât change, but Niewiadoma-Phinney pulled ahead until she was 1:50 minutes up entering the final kilometre. She could celebrate her stage victory as Vollering left Reusser behind on the last 600 metres, and the European champion made up more than 30 seconds in the end to finish 1:16 minutes behind.
Stage Results
General Classification after stage 7
Points Classification
Mountains Classification
Youth Classification
The 31-year-old Polish all-rounder had attacked with 9.7km to go and steadily increased her advantage, crossing the finish line 1:16 minutes ahead of Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ), who left GC leader Marlen Reusser (Movistar) behind in the last kilometre.
Coming from behind, Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team L'IMAD) also pushed past Reusser to finish third, 1:42 minutes down.
Having started the stage 1:17 minutes behind Reusser, Niewiadoma-Phinney also takes the yellow leader's jersey and now leads the Tour by 15 seconds on Vollering.
âIâm still speechless, but I just feel so much gratitude. This victory goes to so many people that were with me along this very long road without proper big wins," Niewiadoma-Phinney said after the finish.
"I'm just so tired and so blown away with what just happened. As we started to climb the Mont Ventoux, I looked right and I saw my parents. They made a surprise visit, I could see my dad crying, and I was like, âI just need to make them proudâ, So this victory goes to my family, my friends, my team, my husband Taylor [Phinney], to my coach Louis [Delahaije], and my team boss Ronny [Lauke]. They know how much effort I put into this victory and were always by my side, listening to my complaints. It's a long speech right now, but yeah, Iâm just blown away.â
Although she won the 2024 Tour de France Femmes, this is her first stage victory in the race.
âI never chase the victory for the sake of winning. I chase it for the sake of this beautiful feeling. I came here to Mont Ventoux with my friends and my husband, and we rode the climb three times. We had fun, we sprinted, we did efforts, and it was just about this amazing feeling from being here, at the top of the mountain.
"From that moment I just wanted to have that feeling coming here as well, this pure joy of riding, feeling like a kid. Racing or riding is so cool because we can go anywhere we want. I just love every pedal stroke,â the stage winner spoke about the joy of cycling.
Tactically, Niewiadoma-Phinney knew that she needed to create a gap in the forest and then just keep going.
âMy idea was that I need to make it to Chalet [Reynard] on my own. I knew that with the wind we had today, if somebody is chasing behind, then they will try to stay on the wheel as much as possible. It wasnât nice for me because there was a lot of headwind, but I knew that in the back they would gamble and just play the game,â she finished.
An historical climb up Mont Ventoux
Only 128 riders rolled out of La Voulte-sur-RhĂŽne as Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), Katrine Aalerud (Uno-X Mobility), and Kiara Lylyk (Mayenne Monbana MyPie) did not start the stage.
There were no attacks before the first climb, the second-category Col de la Grande Limite, and polka-dot jersey Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) took maximum points at the top. An attack by Jeanne Korevaar (Liv AlUla Jayco) led to a short-lived break of nine riders that was brought back ahead of the third-category Col du Colombier.
By also cresting this climb first, Pieterse extended her advantage in the mountain classification to 34 points, and with only 33 points on offer on the last two stages, she only needs to finish the Tour to win the polka-dot jersey.
After 70km in hot, sunny weather, several attacks eventually came together to form a break of 11 riders: Marit Raaijmakers (Human Powered Health), Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco), Mia Griffin (Picnic PostNL), Amalie Dideriksen (Cofidis), Idoia Eraso, Paula Patiño (both Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Marte Berg Edseth (Uno-X Mobility), Sandrine Tas, Romina Hinojosa (both Lotto-Intermarché), Clémence Latimier (Ma Petite Entreprise), and Fiona Mangan (Mayenne Monbana MyPie) quickly built a one-minute gap.
This left Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Sophie von Berswordt-Wallrabe (VolkerWessels) chasing in between. At the intermediate sprint in Beaumes-de-Venise with 48.9km to go, the chase duo was two minutes behind the front and one minute ahead of the peloton, and they gave up soon after and were caught by the bunch.
The breakaway fell apart on the second-category Col de Suzette, and the peloton quickly made up time now, being only 1:36 minutes behind at the top. On the rolling terrain to the unclassified Col de la Madeleine, some of the escapees were caught, and with Movistar taking control in the peloton, the gap was reduced further.
In BĂ©doin, the start of the 21-kilometre climb to the top of the Mont Ventoux, what remained of the break was only 20 seconds ahead. Latimier launched an attack but was quickly countered by Roseman-Gannon, who kept her attack going until she was reeled in with 17.9km to go.
Franziska Koch brought the FDJ United-Suez train with CĂ©lia Gery, Juliette Berthet, and Vollering to the front just as the climb started officially, 15.7km from the finish, and Gery followed the attack from ValliĂšres while Berthet continued to set the pace in the GC group where defending champion Pauline Ferrand-PrĂ©vot (Visma-Lease a Bike) had already lost contact. Her teammate Femke de Vries, Nienke Vinke (SD Worx-Protime), and stage 6 winner Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) also couldnât follow the pace.
When ValliĂšres was caught and dropped, only 14 riders remained at the front: Reusser, Vollering with Gery and Berthet, CĂ©drine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) and RĂŒegg, Niewiadoma-Phinney and Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM), Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) and Fisher-Black, Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease a Bike), and the UAE Team LâIMAD trio of Longo Borghini, Dominika Wlodarczyk, and Paula Blasi.
Fisher-Black attacked with 13.8km to go, but with RĂŒegg setting the pace, the New Zealander was caught and left behind 500 metres later. When RĂŒegg swung off with 11.2km to go, Gery and Bunel had also been dropped, and only nine riders remained at the front where Niedermaier briefly took the lead.
Volleringâs attack through a hairpin turn blew the group apart. Reusser and Niewiadoma-Phinney could follow the acceleration, Niedermaier and Blasi tried to but quickly had to leave a gap and eventually formed a chase group with Longo Borghini and Kerbaol.
At the 10km mark, the four chasers were 20 seconds behind. 300 metres later, Niewiadoma-Phinney made her move, and neither Reusser nor Vollering reacted immediately. Reusser then took Vollering on her wheel and started to chase, but Niewiadoma-Phinney eked out a 12-second advantage.
Vollering tried to drop Reusser twice, each time attacking from behind, and with 8.3km to go, the gap to Niewiadoma-Phinney was only seven seconds, but then Vollering let the yellow jersey do most of the work again, and the gap kept growing to a full minute at the Chalet Reynard, with the group around Longo Borghini another 20 seconds behind.
On the last 6.2km, the gap between the two chase groups didnât change, but Niewiadoma-Phinney pulled ahead until she was 1:50 minutes up entering the final kilometre. She could celebrate her stage victory as Vollering left Reusser behind on the last 600 metres, and the European champion made up more than 30 seconds in the end to finish 1:16 minutes behind.
Stage Results
General Classification after stage 7
Points Classification
Mountains Classification
Youth Classification
Related Coverage
- Tour de France Femmes: Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney wins on Mont Ventoux to take overall lead â BBCTour de France Femmes 2026: Kasia Niewiadoma wins on Mont Ventoux and takes yellow â as it happened
- BBCTour de France Femmes 2026: Kasia Niewiadoma wins on Mont Ventoux and takes yellow â as it happened â The Guardian'I really should have closed the gap straight away' â Demi Vollering harbours Mont Ventoux regrets as Niewiadoma-Phinney soars into Tour de France Femmes lead
- The Guardian'I really should have closed the gap straight away' â Demi Vollering harbours Mont Ventoux regrets as Niewiadoma-Phinney soars into Tour de France Femmes lead â Cyclingnews2026 Tour de Pologne Stage 5 Preview
- Cyclingnews2026 Tour de Pologne Stage 5 Preview â Cycling Mole
