Cédrine Kerbaol made history on stage six of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, taking France's first ever victory at the race.
The Ceratizit-WNT rider, white jersey winner in 2023, attacked over the top of the final climb, descended at high-speed on a technical course, and hung on to take a famous memorable victory on Friday.
Behind, Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) won the sprint for second ahead of Liane Lippert (Movistar). Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) maintained her lead in the yellow jersey competition, finishing safely in the main bunch, but Kerbaol has now narrowed the gap to just 16 seconds.
"For a few days now I was eager to do something, to have a victory," she said on TV post-victory. "On the climbs, I was feeling very good, my teammates were there to position me. On the last climb I was very patient, usually I attack too early and they bring me back. I was just trying to focus on taking the stage win. There were a few attacks, and a few flat sections. On the descent, I knew I could make some distance. I knew there was a gap, so I went into time-trial mode.
"I hope I can still make some progress, and end even better. But for sure, I’m in the best shape at the moment. I’ve never won a race like this before, such a legendary race. I was never that close to all the riders at the front.
"We’ll do our best, we have to believe it. I’m not far from the yellow jersey, so I will give everything I have. I don’t want to have any regrets."
There was also a change in the green jersey and in the Queen of the Mountains competition - Vos took over green, and Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) took over the polka dots.
The day after her crash, defending champion Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) finished in the peloton, and did not look too troubled by her injuries.
How it happened
Stage six began with a new face in the yellow jersey, after Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) took advantage of Demi Vollering’s (SD Worx-Protime) misfortune to jump into the overall race lead.
A hilly day awaited the riders left in the race, with five categorised climbs including the second-category La Roche du Prêtre.
A large early breakaway, formed of 10 riders, went up the road with around 144km left to go of the race; it included Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM), Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) and Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez). Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) was the first to the summit of the Col du Mont du Fourche, taking the mountains points on that. Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) finished second on that sprint, putting her into the virtual lead of the mountains classification.
The break was caught with 134km to go, but attacks began again quickly. Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Human Powered Health) and Iurani Blanco (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) were the first to get a gap, but with 108km to go this grew.
Ghekiere, Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek), Christine Majerus (SD Worx-Protime), Victoire Berteau (Cofidis), Anniina Ahtosalo (Uno-X Mobility), Sheyla Gutiérrez (Movistar), Fem van Empel (Visma-Lease a Bike), Amber Pate (Liv AlUla Jayco), Anya Louw (AG Insurance-Soudal), Nina Berton (Ceratizit-WNT), Maaike Coljé (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Franziska Koch (dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Julie De Wilde (Fenix-Deceuninck).
With 88km to go, a further four headed up the road: Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx-Protime), Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM), and Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez).
The gap grew to above two minutes, but was coming down to around a minute with
Atop the Col de Ferrière, Ghekiere took the maximum points, moving up to joint-second in the QOM competition. At the intermediate sprint in Sancey, Vos took the maximum points, narrowing the gap to green jersey-holder Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich PostNL).
Ghekiere once again took the most points on the Côte de Laviron, meaning she will now likely wear the polka dots on Saturday after an impressive ride in the breakaway.
On the La Roche du Prêtre the break started to fall apart, with Berton, Majerus, and Van Empel dropping backwards. The break was then left with just six: Fisher-Black, Paladin, Ghekiere, Brown, Vos and Gutiérrez.
Fisher-Black then attacked off the front, with just over a minute on the peloton on top of the second-category climb. Behind, the peloton began to thin out as well as the testing slopes started to make their mark. Fisher-Black took the maximum points on the climb, followed by Ghekiere and then Brown. With 25.6km to go, the front of the race became Fisher-Black and Brown, but a couple of kilometres later Ghekiere made it back to the lead group.
At the bonus sprint of Le Mont Sianet, Brown took six seconds on the general classification, as the peloton closed the gap to around 30 seconds.
With 16.5km to go, Brown pushed on, dropping Ghekiere once more. She was quickly caught by Juliette Labous (dsm-firmenich PostNL), who had hundreds of fans standing on the climb cheering for the local rider. Niewiadoma followed, with Vollering behind. Labous’ attack brought the gap back to the break, leaving it at metres with 1km to go to the top of the final climb.
Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) was the rider who caught the pair of escapees, but what was left of the peloton then came back together. At the back of the peloton Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) was battling to stay in contention - the Dutchwoman surely a favourite for the stage if she made it to the finish.
As the top of the climb neared, Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) attacked to take the QOM points, knowing her lead had been taken in the competition on Friday by Ghekiere.
Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT) pushed off the front, accompanied by Rooijakkers, who built up a lead of over 10 seconds. Kerbaol really accelerated on the descent, putting a gap between her and Rooijakkers on twisting roads. At the front of the peloton, Labous also tried to get away, but was unable to on the downhill.
With 10km to go, Kerbaol was alone, with a lead of about 22 seconds. Vos made it back into the lead group as Rooijakkers was caught. With 5km to go, this was over 30 seconds, with the Frenchwoman time-trialling her way to the finish. This gap stood with 1.8km to go, with one final punchy climb to go.
Kerbaol was still alone with 500m to go, with the peloton rushing in behind, but it looked set for a first French victory.
The 23-year-old, winner of the white jersey at the 2023 race, took France’s first ever stage win at the race, with Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) winning the sprint for second behind, securing the green jersey.
Results
Tour de France Femmes 2024 stage six: Remiremont > Morteau (159.2km)
1. Cédrine Kerbaol (Fra) Ceratizit-WNT, in 4:04:41
2. Marianne Vos (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, +21s
3. Liane Lippert (Deu) Movistar
4. Karlijn Swinkels (Ned) UAE Team ADQ
5. Lucinda Brand (Ned) Lidl-Trek
6. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM
7. Puck Pieterse (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck
8. Thalita de Jong (Ned) Lotto Dsnty
9. Évita Muzic (Fra) FDJ-Suez
10. Juliette Labous (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL, all at same time
General classification after stage six
1. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM, in 15:32:31
2. Cédrine Kerbaol (Fra) Ceratizit-WNT, +16s
3. Kristen Faulkner (USA) EF-Oatly-Cannondale, +19s
4. Puck Pieterse (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, +22s
5. Juliette Labous (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +56s
6. Thalita De Jong (Ned) Lotto Dstny, +1:04
7. Shirin van Anrooij (Ned) Lidl-Trek, +1:07
8. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, +1:08
9. Liane Lippert (Deu) Movistar, +1:16
10. Demi Vollering (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, +1:19
