The defending Tour de France Femmes champion, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, will unfortunately not start Stgae 8. A post from her Visma-Lease a Bike Team read, “Unfortunately, Pauline was not feeling well this morning. In consultation with the medical staff, it has been decided that she will not start today. We wish Pauline a speedy recovery!”
PFP’s Tour de France Femmes
It’s been a tough Tour for the French star. She lost over two minutes in the time trial, and then even more the next day on Stage 5. It was then she conceded that she would not be able to defend her crown, but would look for more opportunities.
“I actually felt pretty good,” she said at the time. “I was dropped on the penultimate climb. On the steepest sections, I couldn’t push any harder. They were simply stronger. I have to admit I wasn’t good enough to follow them.”
On Mont Ventoux on Friday she finished 18th, but over ten minutes behind. Before she DNS, she was sitting 14th overall. In 2025, she dominated the Tour de France Femmes. The French rider finished almost four minutes ahead of Demi Vollering. In her return to road racing after a decade of racing MTB, she also took a brilliant win at Paris-Roubaix.
Stage 8 of the Tour de France Femmes
The Tour de France Femmes continues Saturday with the penultimate day of racing. It’s the longest stage of the Tour, a 176.4-km ride from Sisteron to Nice. The stage is tougher than it appears on paper. It might actually be another good day or PFP’s Canadian teammate, Sarah Van Dam. The Victoria native came close a few days ago in a small break, finishing fourth. She even admitted she was a little disappointed as she thought she could have won.
Sunday’s finale is a tough circuit race in Nice.