Tour de France Femmes 2025 (July 26th- August 3rd)

[Rou]

Out of nowhere? Vingegaard was 2nd in the Tour the year before.

He was the challenger.
Nobody expected him to put 3 mins on Pog on Granon.
Now Pauline will put minutes into Vollering.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Niamh Fisher-Black-Martin-Guyonnet high GC from the break

She’d probably have done well on GC regardless if not for an untimely mechanical on Stage 6.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Prevot is giving me Vingegaard 2022 mutant vibes.
The same climbing level out of nowhere...

CQ Ranking - Giro d'Italia Femminile, Stage 8: Verbania - San Domenico di Varzo

cqranking.com

She's had elite climbing physiology since she first arrived on the scene. It's just that with huge amounts of injuries and her versatility from youth meaning that she decided to specialise in MTB we haven't seen her doing this on the road. But she's been a damned good mountain biker in that time off too.

Not gonna lie this is above the level I expected relative to Demi or Kasia or Pauliena, but also they have not been as good as anticipated either, and I'm not exactly shocked that she's winning this.

 

[Cycling111]

PFP doing what Visma wanted Vingegaard to do.

Gigante definitely isn't Pogacar 😅

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Even this thread can't escape the Pog v Vinge routine, it seems.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

He was the challenger.
Nobody expected him to put 3 mins on Pog on Granon.
Now Pauline will put minutes into Vollering.

Nobody expected Quintana to put 2 mins on Pog on Granon either. Vingegaard was 1‘10“ ahead of Bardet on Granon.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Pauline Illac Prevot demolishing everyone.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Gigante exploded tbh.

Was kinda expected. She is extremely talented, but she's still very raw. She's lost a lot of time due to injury in her development years, and while the Giro showed that she has that elite climbing talent, she's still pretty naïve tactically so while I wouldn't have been surprised had she rode away all the way, the fact she went early and hit the wall is far from a surprise either.

 

[Rou]

Riding them all off the wheel, baby...

 

[Red Rick]

Amazing crowds.

 

[iBanesto]

Has Ferrand-Prevot has gone out of her saddle?

Pogacar-esque climbing...

 

[Rou]

Reusser would have cooked these girls.
Huge asterisk.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Gigante is still outpacing everyone not called PFP, she hasn‘t really blown up.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Kastelijn and Rooijakkers rival the dynamic duo of Christen and Del Toro.

When Abby Mickey wrote this article last year I found it to be full of hyperbole, but it looks less stupid now.

The next French Tour de France winner is a woman

France has been waiting since 1985 to win the Tour de France, and with the new Tour de France Femmes it's looking like they won't have to wait much longer.

escapecollective.com

 

[Tim Cahill]

This is what we will be treated to when Tommy P decides to *finally* specialise and focus on in GC in 7 years time

 

[Red Rick]

Gigante is still outpacing everyone not called PFP, she hasn‘t really blown up.

She did lose like 35s in one km when PFP first took off. I think PFP also took a tiny little breather on the easier section before the junction to the big road.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

10 second gaps between Kasia and Demi fluctuating this way and that all the time like it's last year, only that was for GC...

Muzic now working for Demi and Dani giving her a reading of the Riot Act for how long it's taken her to do so, again forgetting that FDJ were able to use her as a GC card while she was with PFP and Gigante.

I do fear for Gigante tomorrow, though, she could well be a terror on the Joux-Plane if she still believes she can win or if PFP shows any weakness, but then that descent is going to be a big danger to her as well so if she preserves energy so as not to be isolated earlier on like that, she could jeopardise the podium on the descent as there's still quite a way to go and some very wounded pride among those battling with her for the podium. Bear in mind Gigante was already 40-50 seconds behind the likes of Vollering and KNP, so she will not have that much of a lead over them on the GC if it ends like this; the gap between them is not getting bigger at the moment, it seems like both groups are losing time to PFP in equal measure.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Reusser would have cooked these girls.
Huge asterisk.

Yeah, nobody is beating PFP today, regardless. No asterisk needed.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Been on the trainer, watching...it really is sad to have to listen to Phil...reminds me of the last days of Pat Sumerall, just clueless comment after clueless comment. I realize they're making him do it remotely, but he'd be watching on a screen, even if he were in France.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Gaps to Vollering perhaps exacerbated a little by the crash or something else due to the company she's in, but even at her best there's still a chasm, imagine this will be the best climbing display ever.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

There are two versions of PFP; the one who's competitive but not super all year long. Then the Worlds/Olympic/Big race target version who is on another level....she's done this for years, it's not a surprise. She does a huge training camp, loses weight and blows everybody away - look at the Olympics last year - she won by 2-3 mins.

 

[Rou]

There are two versions of PFP; the one who's competitive but not super all year long. Then the Worlds/Olympic/Big race target version who is on another level....she's done this for years, it's not a surprise. She does a huge training camp, loses weight and blows everybody away - look at the Olympics last year - she won by 2-3 mins.

Curious how this performance from today compares to Tourmalet 2023 from Vollering.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Sarah Gigante is kinda a throwback. She can TT surprisingly well for somebody her size. She wins mountain stages and jerseys but is yet to win GCs, and her limitations mean she may never. She has a somewhat awkward style on the bike but she has superb, arguably best-in-the-péloton pure climbing ability when she's on form - but she isn't always on form. She doesn't race all that often and gets ill or injured a lot. She is awkward in the péloton and is an abject descender, who will lose time in splits in the bunch, on descents, and in fact more or less anywhere that isn't an uphill finish, and given her stature it's hard for her to reciprocate the work teammates do for her because she isn't going to be able to fight for position in the péloton or provide much wind resistance.

She's a combination of Emma Pooley and Mara Abbott.

 

[kingjr]

I've been waiting for this since seeing her win one of her MTB WC titles a couple of years back, don't remember when exactly. Since then, I kept thinking I really want to see her level on a big climb such as this.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

She did lose like 35s in one km when PFP first took off. I think PFP also took a tiny little breather on the easier section before the junction to the big road.

Also the part where Bego was pacing matched up perfectly for PFP, when Bego swung off it was just before a steeper ramp where PFP could accelerate and once the gap was opened Gigante was gone.