CHATEL, France (Reuters) -Olympic champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot became the first Frenchwoman to win the Tour de France Femmes on Sunday, pushing through three punishing climbs to win the final stage ahead of 2023 champion Demi Vollering, who finished second overall.
The 33-year-old of team Visma–Lease a Bike held steady through the 124.1km ride from Praz-sur-Arly to Chatel, before launching a decisive attack in the last seven kilometres.
Vollering (FDJ–Suez) stayed in a group with Ferrand-Prevot for the majority of the ninth stage, but could not break away to make up her deficit of more than three minutes coming into the last day.
Ferrand-Prevot, who won gold in women’s cross-country mountain biking at last year’s Paris Games, had taken the yellow jersey from Kimberley Le Court on Saturday.
Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx–Protime), who has led the points classification since stage three, did not chase the leading group and was on track to win the green jersey to deny Dutch compatriot Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) a third Tour title in the category.
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in BengaluruEditing by Christian Radnedge)
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