Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney has launched a decisive attack up Mont Ventoux to win the seventh stage of the Tour de France Femmes and take the overall lead from Marlen Reusser.
The 2024 champion was in tears as she put on the yellow jersey. She now leads 2023 champion Demi Vollering by 15 seconds and Reusser by 39 with two stages left.
Reusser and Vollering could not follow Niewiadoma-Phinney when she broke away about 9km from the top of Ventoux, one of the most iconic climbs in cycling.
It was a first Tour stage win for Niewiadoma-Phinney, who won the 2024 edition without claiming a stage win. Gritting her teeth in the final few hundred metres, the Polish rider dug deep and with the sun gleaming behind her, raised her arms after crossing the line.
She then almost lost balance through fatigue and had to be helped off her bike. Moments later, she was all smiles as she sat on the road and poured cooling water over her head.
She said: “I’m just so tired and so blown away with what just happened. When I started climbing I looked and I saw my parents standing on the roadside.
“They came today by surprise. I saw my father yelling for me and I thought I had to make him proud.”
Vollering dropped Reusser in the closing stages of the 15.7km ascent of Ventoux, which has featured several time on the men’s Tour.
World time trial champion Reusser battled gamely but lost valuable time in the title fight. The Swiss rider finished the stage fourth as Vollering and two-time Giro d’Italia winner Elisa Longo Borghini, of Italy, both placed ahead of her.
There were three smaller climbs heading to Ventoux, which was ranked as a Hors Catégorie ascent – the hardest category – and had a gradient of nearly nine per cent..
Vollering moved ahead first, and Reusser and Niewiadoma-Phinney joined her as others lagged behind. Niewiadoma-Phinney then attacked and, although Vollering stood up in her saddle to chase her, the new race leader was riding a brilliant tempo and proved too strong.
Saturday’s eighth stage is a flat 172km route for sprinters finishing in Nice, where the race ends after another mountain stage on Sunday.
