Yellow Jersey
It’s the premier prize in cycling, the coveted yellow jersey of the Tour de France winner, and someone will be the first to take it out in this relaunched edition of the race.
Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) is the incumbent in yellow, but she is realistic about her chances of maintaining her hold on the overall lead in the two upcoming mountain days. A performance of the calibre to win isn’t beyond her historically, she’s won the Giro Donne overall on three occasions, each of those editions that included the very long climbs that the Italian race is known for.
Vos isn’t quite up to those mountain-conquering feats in recent years and she rejected it out of hand when asked how confident she was and hanging on to the yellow jersey.
“Not,” laughed Vos. “It’s going to very hard, of course it’s nice to be in yellow. The lead-up to this final weekend has been stages that suit me.
“We’ve worked hard to those stages and it’s worked really well. Of course, tomorrow, different riders will be up front. We’ll do what we can, but it’s a different kind of race.”
Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) sits equal second overall, 30 seconds behind Vos, but her recent climbing performances see her top of the general classification candidates.
Just behind her is Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo), the Paris-Roubaix and Women’s Tour winner looking very active in the early stages of the race, though she grabbed the most attention when she headed the wrong way down a deviation for motor vehicles on Stage 5.
Fourth at the recent Giro Donne, the Italian star will be happy with her current position overall as she sits five seconds adrift of Niewiadoma.
Van Vleuten (+1'28) looked back in good spirits post Stage 6, after struggling through the earlier stages of the event, being dropped on a few occasions and suffering through a stomach bug that saw her require a mid-race nature break during Stage 2.
“Good, said van Vleuten, smiling. “That second day, I think that I’ve never had such a shitty day on the bike. I was super sick.
“The third day I was pretty well recovered but then you pay the price for being totally empty when you can’t eat anything. I was quite lucky with those easier days so I could get a full recovery and then go full gas tomorrow.”
The Team SD-Worx pair of Demi Vollering (+1'11) and Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (+1'05) are both ahead of van Vleuten at persent and should be the strongest in numbers at the front of the race. The team have shown that they aren’t above leveraging that advantage in past events.
Top climbers Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ, + 2'40) and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope, +2,02) have both conceded over two minutes to Vos, and look out of the race for the win, bar some truly sensational performances, but they should still be in with a shot for the podium, though both have had bad luck with mechanicals and crashes.
Polka dot jersey
The mountains classification has yet to really start, without any major categorised climbs to date, the jersey will most likely see a new rider in the dots after Stage 7.
Femke Gerritse currently holds the polka dot jersey with Parkhotel Valkenburg holding a keen interest in competing for the classification with Gerritse taking over the lead in the jersey from teammate Femke Markus.
“I will enjoy tomorrow,’ said Gerritse. “I’m riding the queen stage with the polka-dot jersey! I don’t know if they’ll let me go in the break tomorrow but for sure I will try."
It could be a day where the breakaway is allowed a bit of leeway before the major climbs, and from her intent on the early stages, it looks like Elise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM) will likely make a big effort to move herself into the jersey. Otherwise, maybe a climber like Paula Patino (Movistar) or Kristin Faulkner (BikeExchange-Jayco) who has lost a lot of time will attempt to get themselves up the road.
The other factor is that the battle for yellow could decide the mountains jersey’s final resting place, as it as done in recent years at the men’s Tour de France.
Green Jersey
The fight for the points classification, also called the sprinter’s classification, is all but done. Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) holds a 76-point lead over Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM). The two remaining stages are both mountain days, and Wiebes would need to win both and take maximum points in both the intermediate sprints, all while Vos scores next to no points.
Wiebes is not a good climber, so the above scenario is unachievable, as long as Vos makes it through the rest of the race, she will win the green jersey.
White Jersey
The best young rider’s jersey is shaping into an interesting battle. Without the normal names present like Niamh Fisher-Black (SD-Worx) and Sarah Gigante (Movistar), it’s proving to be an interesting fight.
Julia Borgström (AG Insurance - NXTG) is in the lead of the classification, but said in her post-race interview that she has no experience of racing in the mountains in her post-race interview.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Borgström. “We fought with the team to keep me in front and to keep me calm and relax so that I can be able to push my limits on the climbs, and that’s what we did. It gives me a little bit more motivation for the big mountains.
“I don’t know if I’m a climber, I think I’m more an allrounder but I’ve never done this mountains in a race, so we’ll see!"
Shirin van Anrooj (Trek-Segafredo) and Pfeiffer Georgi (Team DSM) are the best credentialled of the riders in contention, but their teams have ambitions in the general classification, so they will likely be called on to work for their team leaders.
The Tour de France Femmes continues with the first of two big mountain stages to finish the race, with the 13-kilometre climb of the Grand Ballon summiting with just seven kilometres remaining in the stage. Watch from 11.20pm AEST on the SBS SKODA Tour Tracker or from 11.25pm AEST on SBS and SBS On Demand.
