French rider Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt puts a gap on Australia's Sarah Gigante ahead of final stage of Tour de France Femmes
She is making her Tour debut at 33 years old and leads Australian rider Sarah Gigante by 2 minutes, 37 seconds and 2023 champion Demi Vollering of the Netherlands by 3:18 heading into tonight's (AEST) last stage.
Last year's event had the smallest winning margin in the history of the women's and men's races, but Ferrand-Prévôt looks like winning far more comfortably, barring mishap.
She won the mountain bike gold medal at last year's Paris Olympics and the Paris-Roubaix classic in April.
Overnight, she trailed Mauritian rider Kim Le Court by 26 seconds heading into stage eight from Chambéry to Saint-François-Longchamp, which took the riders on a 112 kilometre trek into the mountains.
It featured an early climb of 13km up Col de Plainpalais before finishing with a tortuous ascent of 18.6km to Col de Madeleine, one of the most famed climbs in cycling.
Ferrand-Prévôt made a move on her main rivals about 9km from the top, pulling away to chase after Niamh Fisher-Black and Yara Kastelijn ahead of her.
She soon caught them and then rode unchallenged to clinch the stage win.
Gigante crossed the line 1:45 behind her, while Fisher-Black rolled in 2:15 behind in third spot. Vollering placed fourth.
The ninth and final stage from Praz-sur-Arly to Châtel is another mountainous route, with three big climbs, and is even longer at 124km.
AP
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