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French rider Pauline Ferrand-Prevot took a commanding lead at the Tour de France Femmes after launching a solo victory on the final climb of Sunday AEST’s penultimate stage.
But Australian rider Sarah Gigante surged into second place, two minutes and 37 seconds behind, on a day of big changes in the leading positions.
The 2023 champion, Demi Vollering of the Netherlands, is 3:18 adrift heading into Monday’s last stage.
Overnight leader Kimberley Le Court Pienaar — Gigante’s AG Insurance-Soudal teammmate — crashed on the descent from the Col du Frene with 63 kilometres remaining, briefly trailing the peloton by about a minute.
She rejoined, but the effort and the relentless climbing cost her in the general classification as she dropped to 11th place.
Last year’s event had the smallest winning margin in the history of the women’s and men’s races, but Ferrand-Prevot — who won the mountain bike gold medal at last year’s Paris Olympics — appears to be winning far more comfortably, despite Gigante’s efforts.
The Frenchwoman trailed Le Court by 26 seconds heading into stage eight from Chambery to Saint-François-Longchamp, which took the riders on a 112-kilometre trek into the mountains.
It featured an early climb of 13 kilometres up Col de Plainpalais before finishing with an ascent of 18.6 kilometres to Col de Madeleine, one of the most famed climbs in cycling.
Gigante went on the offensive with 12 kilometres to go, and only Ferrand-Prevot of the GC favourites was able to stay with her on the climb.
The Olympic champion then attacked at the start of the final nine kilometres and Gigante was unable to keep up with her.
The Frenchwoman hit the front seven kilometres from the summit and powered to a superb victory.
Gigante crossed the line 1:45 behind her, while Niamh Fisher-Black rolled in 2:15 behind in third spot. Vollering was fourth.
The 24-year-old Melburnian had joked on Saturday night, at the end of the seventh stage, that some of the big names had “missed a couple of opportunities” to shake her off.
“They could have got rid of me yesterday, maybe Kim today. We’ll see what happens, but from our point of view, hopefully they live to regret it.”
Monday’s ninth and final stage from Praz-sur-Arly to Chatel is another mountainous route, with three big climbs, and is even longer at 124 kilometres.
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