Tour de France Femmes 2025: race heads into the mountains on stage six – live

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If you’re into the Tour de France Femmes fantasty team selections, you might be interested to know that the most selected riders for today’s stage win are Demi Vollering, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Katarzyna Niewiadoma.

The racing has begun!

122km to go: And we’re off! The riders set off as the race flag is dropped and the attacks come rapidly.

Valentina Cavallar and Mie Bjørndal Ottestad withdraw from the race

Arkéa-B&B Hotels have announced that their rider Valentina Cavallar will not start stage six of the Tour de France Femmes due to illness. Additionally, Uno X-Mobility said Mie Bjørndal Ottestad would not be starting today. That means that Uno X-Mobility now only have three riders left in the race: Susanne Andersen, Linda Zanetti and Teuntje Beekhuis.

Today’s rollout has begun

Stage six of the Tour de France Femmes 2025 is under way. The peloton have rolled out from Clermont-Ferrand. There’s a 9.7 km neutralised section before the racing begins.

Here is the route profile of stage six:

Sarah Gigante has an infectious energy that shines through whether she is saluting after blowing away her rivals on the toughest of mountain stages, or celebrating every day as much as her successes on social media. The Australian cyclist even keeps her smile beaming while reflecting on a recent health concern that threatened to bring her promising career to a standstill. But hidden just beneath the surface is a killer instinct to “make others hurt”, as well as a steely determination to overcome challenges on and off the bike that have helped lift Gigante into the cycling form of her life.

Sarah Gigante celebrates winning the fourth stage of the Giro d’Italia Donne. Photograph: Massimo Paolone/LaPresse/Shutterstock

The 24-year-old is still coming to terms with the thrill and pride taken from finishing on the podium at the Giro d’Italia Donne when she was third overall behind winner Elisa Longo Borghini. Gigante finished 1min 11sec behind the Italian home favourite and defending champion, with Switzerland’s Marien Reusser in between, but claimed a pair of spectacular stage wins when soloing away on mountain-top finishes and cemented her place as the best climber in the race with the Queen of the Mountains jersey.

In case you missed this yesterday, here is Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) working on her impressive football skills before stage five:

And who’s wearing which jersey:

• Yellow jersey – Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 15hrs 7mins 14secs

• Green jersey – Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), 208pts

• Polka dot jersey – Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez), 11pts

• White jersey – Julie Bego (Cofidis), 15hrs 9mins 24secs

Here’s a reminder of the top ten on GC after stage five:

1. Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), 15hrs 7mins 14secs

2. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike), +18secs

3. Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), +23secs

4. Katarzyna Niewiadoma Phinney (Canyon/SRAM), +24secs

5. Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx Protime), +27secs

6. Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), +37secs

7. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck), +45secs

8. Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal), +55secs

9. Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), +1min 4secs

10. Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly), +1min 16secs

Stage six: Clermont-Ferrand to Ambert, 124km

Here’s a look at today’s stage, Thursday 31 July: Clermont-Ferrand to Ambert, 123.7km, with the race director of the Tour de France Femmes, Marion Rousse:

The stage, which starts in the huge Place de Jaude in the heart of Clermont-Ferrand, will be run entirely in the department of Puy-de-Dôme. Beginning on fairly flat roads, it will head to Courpière, where things will get serious. The ascent of the Col du Béal (10.2km at 5.6%) will be quickly followed by those of the Col de Chansert (6.3km at 5.5%) and the Côte de Valcivieres. Running through a wild landscape of volcanic rock, there will be no respite at all on the road to Ambert.

Preamble

The mountains are calling. Today’s 123.7km stage will take the riders towards the terrain of the Central Massif, with four categorised climbs and about 2,350m of ascent on the menu. There are two category three climbs, one category two and one category one, all within a 60km stretch before a finish in Ambert.

While the stage will start on fast, flat roads out of Clermont-Ferrand, the peloton will need to find their climbing legs pronto. This is one of three mountain stages of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift this year, with the other two coming up this weekend.

So, who will be victorious today? The GC contenders will surely want a piece of the action. Winner of yesterday’s stage and in the yellow jersey, Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) is looking strong, but Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) are also ones to keep an eye on. As is defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto), who excels on this kind of parcours. Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) won’t want to miss out either.

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on today’s stage and the Tour de France Femmes in general. You can drop me an email via the link at the top of the page.

Before today’s stage starts at 2pm CET/1pm BST, here’s a summary of yesterday’s action: