Tensions are running extra high prior to Sunday’s four-climb climax of the Tour in Nice.
Demi Vollering launches the winning move on stage 8 of the Tour de France Femmes (Photo: Gruber Images)
Published August 8, 2026 05:12PM
With just eight seconds between the two top contenders, former GC winners Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma, Sunday’s finale of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift was already set to be a high-stakes showdown.
However the tension was drastically ratcheted upwards after stage 8 when Niewiadoma accused Vollering’s teammate Celia Géry of deliberately impeding her at a key moment, describing the action as “childish” and saying she has lost all respect for the FDJ United – Suez squad.
Vollering shrugged off the complaint, although her response that that ‘kind of thing sometimes happens in racing’ will do little to quell the tension.
What’s clear is that an already fragile situation has become even more so with one day to go. Niewiadoma is normally someone who is noticeably more upbeat than Vollering in interviews, whatever the outcome.
Seeing her lash out on Saturday was a big change, and a reflection of just how frustrated she felt to lose yellow, particularly in light of perceived unacceptable action on Géry’s part.
“Was it part of the plan?” she demanded of the French champion when she confronted her at the finish.
The race jury looked at the footage but no sanction was applied to Géry.
If anything is going to spur Ventoux stage winner Niewiadoma on even more, it’s this kind of situation.
‘It’s not over yet’
Stage 9 of the Tour de France Femmes may lack the high altitude of Friday’s stage to Mont Ventoux, where Niewiadoma attacked early on the climb and finished 1:16 in front of Vollering. However it’s plenty difficult, with four ascents of the Col d’Eze packed into just 99.2km.
The climbing begins immediately after the start and from there the stage is continuously up and down.
Niewiadoma is determined to fight, and so too is her team.
“For sure, it’s hard if you lose the yellow jersey, but I also told Kasia that it’s not over yet,” said teammate Antonia Niedermaier, who is both best young rider and sitting fifth overall.
“Tomorrow is another really, really hard day, so she should never stop believing. I still think everything is possible.”
Elisa Longo Borghini was the rider who was with Niewiadoma when she was chasing Vollering in the finale. The Italian was second on the stage, 17 seconds behind, and is 3:05 back overall.
Victory for her in the GC is surely not on the cards but she took encouragement from Saturday and vowed to fight on.
“We were there, just 50 metres behind Demi, she said of Saturday’s chase. “I moved aside, hoping Kasia could make one final acceleration to close the gap, but I immediately realised she had no more energy,” she said. “That’s when I understood we wouldn’t catch her anymore.
“Tomorrow will be another tough day and, as I’ve said over the past few days, we will give everything we have and then see what happens.”
‘We still have the same goal’
Kasia Niewiadoma accused Celia Géry of improper tactics after she lost the yellow jersey (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Another who will dig in is jersey Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team), who remains third overall but who is now 1:12 back.
That’s a big deficit to overcome but she’ll go down trying, with her brief stint in yellow this week giving her all the encouragement she needs.
Vollering knows she will be under fire from all sides, but is feeling up to the challenge.
“Last year I tried also very hard, and the body didn’t want to. So I think I appreciate it even more now – to feel that your body is healthy and that you can really go over the limit for your dreams.
“It’s not always that that happens. You need to be lucky as well with your health and everything that’s going around”
Nothing is guaranteed, but going into the last stage in the lead is exactly where she wanted to be.
“At the moment, we’re living the dream,” she said. “We’ve won two stages already … And I will do everything in my power to keep that yellow, of course.”
Niewiadoma will try equally hard to recapture the Maillot Juane.
“We have still the same goal, right? Like go get the yellow jersey. We need to talk with the team and evaluate what’s the plan now.”
See stage details here.