Vos the boss: yellow jersey wins Tour de France Femmes Stage 6

The day after Lorena Wiebes took a brace of Tour de France Femmes victories, the yellow jersey Marianne Vos matched the feat. She hasn’t finished below fifth in the first six stages. Vos added a 10 seconds to her race lead. Simone Boilard was the top Canadian in 16th.

You can watch the inaugural Tour de France Femmes at FloBikes.

The Course

The last day before the high mountains featured three Cat. 4s and a Cat. 3 placed evenly along the 128.6 km. A bonus point was placed on Route de Mollkirch. The final climb in the 20 km finishing circuit was Cat. 4 Côte de Boersch cresting 9 km from the line in Rosheim.

? Stage 6 / Étape 6 ?

? @Agglo_SDDV
? Rosheim

? 128,6 km
⏰ 13:00 CEST > 16:18 CEST
⛰ 1x 3⃣c, 3x 4⃣c
? km 84,9
?️ km 101,5#TDFF #WatchTheFemmes pic.twitter.com/LMv6xL5A0C

— Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) July 29, 2022

There were a number of attacks after the start in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges but none failed to get any traction. Finally, a 14-rider escape bounced away and approached the third categorized climb of the day, Côte de Klingenthal, with a 1:45 gap. Brit Joscelin Lowden of Uno-X snaffled up the maximum QOM points and moved within four points of polka dot wearer Femke Gerritse.

UAE Team ADQ took up the peloton pacemaking from Liv, SD Worx, Roland Cogeas Edelweiss and Trek-Segafredo. Grace Brown accelerated in the peloton as it crept closer to the break on Route de Mollkirch.

A crash took down Lotte Kopecky and double stage winner and green jersey Lorena Wiebes.

Unfortunately, @lorenawiebes came down in a crash with 21km to go. She's back on the bike and fighting her way back into the peloton. #TDFF pic.twitter.com/k00tDKf5Mu

— Team DSM (@TeamDSM) July 29, 2022

The break heard the bell with a minute’s lead. Vos’s Jumbo-Visma yanked the field along. Lowden and two other escapees went clear with 16 km remaining.

Marie Le Net attacked Lowden and Anna Henderson on Côte de Boersch. A few surges in the peloton hoovered up all the remaining fugitives.

? 5km

??@LeNetMarie is caught by the peloton.

??@LeNetMarie est reprise par le peloton.#TDFF #WatchTheFemmes pic.twitter.com/W5NP4P4KBL

— Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) July 29, 2022

With Wiebes kilometres behind, the other sprinters started to slice and dice in the final stretch.

Elisa Longo Borghini and Elisa Balsamo almost crashed after coming together. Vos stayed along the right hand barriers and picked her way through a messy last 400 metres to take the victory.
Saturday’s pentultimate stage packs three Cat. 1 climbs into 127.1 km. The last ascent peaks with 8 km to ride and offers bonus seconds at its midway point.

2022 Tour de France Femmes Stage 6
1) Marianne Vos (The Netherlands/Jumbo-Visma) 3:09:26
2) Marta Bastianelli (Italy/UAE Team ADQ) s.t.
3) Lotte Kopecky (Belgium/SD Worx) s.t.
16) Simone Boilard (Canada/St Michel-Auber93) s.t.
49) Magdeleine Vallieres (Canada/EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) +0:24

2022 Tour de France Femmes GC
1) Marianne Vos (The Netherlands/Jumbo-Visma) 16:20:58
2) Silvia Persico (Italy/Valcar-Travel and Service) +0:30
3) Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Poland/Canyon-SRAM) s.t.
54) Simone Boilard (Canada/St Michel-Auber93) +18:51
66) Magdeleine Vallieres (Canada/EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) +22:16