The French rider Pauline Ferrand-Prevot took an impressive lead in the Tour de France Femmes after launching a solo victory on the last climb of the penultimate phase of Sunday Aest.
But the Australian rider Sarah Gigante rose to second place, two minutes and 37 seconds behind, one day with major changes in the leading positions.
The 2023 champion, Demi Vollering of the Netherlands, is 3:18 Adrift on the way to the last phase of Monday.
Staying leader Kimberley le Court Pienaar-Gigante’s AG Insurance-Soudal TeamMmate Storted down on the descent of the Col du Frene with 63 kilometers over, who briefly chased the peloton for about a minute.
She joined, but the effort and the ruthless climbing climbing cost her in the general classification when she walked to 11th place.
Last year’s event had the smallest winning margin in the history of races for women and gentlemen, but Ferrand-Prevot-Die De Gold Medal of Mountain Bike won at the Paris Olympic Games of last annual winning much more comfortably, despite the efforts of Gigante.
The French woman followed Le Court with 26 seconds on the way to Phase eight from Chambery to Saint-François-Longchamp, who brought the riders to the mountains a 112 kilometer trek.
It contained an early climb of 13 kilometers higher Col de Plainpalais before he ended with a climb of 18.6 kilometers to Col de Madeleine, one of the most famous climbs in bicycles.
Gigante went on the offensive with 12 kilometers to go, and only Ferrand-Prevot of the GC favorites could stay with her on the climb.
The Olympic champion then attacked at the start of the last nine kilometers and Gigante could not keep up with her.
The French woman hit the front seven kilometers from the top and was driven to an excellent victory.
Gigante exceeded the line 1:45 behind her, while Niamh Fisher-Black rolled in third place in 2:15. Volling was fourth.
The 24-year-old Melburnian had joked on Saturday evening, at the end of the seventh stage, that some of the big names “missed a few chances” to shake her.
“They could have removed me yesterday, maybe Kim today. We will see what happens, but from our point of view they hopefully live to regret it.”
The ninth and final phase of Monday from Praz-sur-Arly to Chatel is another mountainous route, with three large climbs, and is even longer at 124 kilometers.
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