Demi Vollering wins final stage to seal Tour de Femmes title

Demi Vollering claimed her second women’s Tour de France win with a stunning breakaway victory on the ninth and final stage to Nice.

Vollering attacked 600 metres from the summit of the final climb of the Col d’Èze to open up a 20-second lead on her only remaining challenger for the title, the Polish rider Katarzyna Niewiadoma.

It earned the 29-year-old from Pijnacker her third stage win in this year’s tour and confirmed her as the overall winner, 1 minute 18 seconds ahead of Niewiadoma.

The only other woman in contention going into the final day, the Swiss rider Marlen Reusser, crashed on the final descent and rolled in 24 minutes behind, finishing in 14th place overall.

Vollering hoisted her bike aloft after crossing the finish line alone for her first Tour de Femmes victory in three years, following second places in 2024 and 2025.

“I was thinking of a lot of things as I crossed the line,” she said. “My team, all the work that went into this, everyone who was behind me. I never doubted I could do this.”

Vollering started the day with an advantage of just eight seconds on Niewiadoma after claiming the yellow jersey with a similar breakaway in Saturday’s penultimate stage to Mont Ventoux.

On Sunday the riders had to tackle the Col d’Èze four times on a 99km circular route around Nice. Niewiadoma’s team-mate Zoe Bäckstedt set the early pace before Canadian Isabella Holmgren tested the leaders with a break on the third climb to the summit, but with 16km to go approaching the final summit, only Vollering and Niewiadoma were left out in front.