Demi Vollering Wins Stage Eight and Takes Tour de France Femmes Lead

Demi Vollering claimed her fourth stage win on the Tour de France Femmes. The race lead has changed hands for the second day running, with Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney having won on Mont Ventoux to replace Marlen Reusser at the top of the general classification. That gave the Polish Canyon-SRAM rider a 15-second lead over Vollering heading into Saturday's penultimate stage, a mostly flat 171.9km ride from Sisteron to Nice.

It was the longest stage of this year's race and looked set to suit the sprinters, but they were dropped on the Cote de la Ginestiere - the final climb of the day - about 8km from the finish. Dutch FDJ-Suez rider Vollering then attacked in a bid to drop Niewiadoma-Phinney and Elisa Longo Borghini, and went clear right before she crested the final climb, with 6km to the finish. That allowed the 29-year-old to immediately stretch her lead on the descent and open up a gap that was too much for Niewiadoma-Phinney or Longo Borghini to bridge.