2nd August – Stage 8: Chambéry – Col de la Madeleine
Saturday’s queen stage of the Tour de France Femmes delivered exactly what was expected: a brutal day in the mountains. After opening immediately with the first-category Col de Plainpalais, the stage saved the toughest challenge for last — a summit finish atop the legendary Col de la Madeleine: 18.6 kilometers at an average gradient of 8.1%. For Team Picnic PostNL and Nienke Vinke, the task was clear: defend the white jersey.
From the very start, a fierce battle unfolded to make it into the breakaway. Several groups tried and failed before a group of 14 riders finally got away. Among them was Franziska Koch, who found herself in the break, not for the first time this week. In the peloton, white jersey Nienke Vinke was well-protected by her teammates.
With 40 kilometers to go, the breakaway still held a lead of around five minutes, but the pace in the bunch began to rise sharply. The gap started to fall quickly. Then, with 28 kilometers remaining, disaster struck for Vinke: a flat tire in the valley just before the final climb. With the team car out of position due to the race splitting into many groups, Megan Jastrab immediately responded by giving Vinke her own bike — a brilliant act of teamwork. Once the team car reached her, Vinke was able to switch back to her own bike and continue. Francesca Barale then put in a massive effort to pace Vinke to the foot of the Madeleine. There, Vinke emptied herself completely on the long and punishing climb. Koch, having dropped back from the earlier breakaway, rode with Vinke all the way to the finish — helping her up the mountain in the final kilometers. Thanks to these collective efforts, Vinke and Team Picnic PostNL not only retained the white jersey but increased the lead in the youth classification.
After the stage, an exhausted Vinke reflected: “Today was a really hard day, with 13 kilometers of climbing right from the start. The pace was high straight away, and there was a huge fight to get into the break. I was a bit too eager trying to follow everything early on, and by the time the final group went clear, I couldn’t follow anymore. Luckily, Franzi made it in and rode super strong. After that, the girls kept me well positioned and even closed down a gap. Then in the valley before the Madeleine, I got a flat — just as the race was going full gas. I had to ride for a while on Megan’s bike, because the team car wasn’t nearby with all the groups scattered across the road. Luckily I got back on my own bike and Francesca did a huge pull to bring me to the climb. From there it was full gas to the top. It was such a long and hard climb — I was completely empty. Franzi helped me so much in the end. She dropped back from the break and paced me up the final eight kilometers. That was really amazing and strong of her. I’m so happy it’s over — and so happy to still be in white.”
