Stage 9: Power wins the Tour.

What a way to finish the Tour de France Femmes.

There was certainly no ceremonial procession into Nice today. From the moment the flag dropped, this was a race.

The final stage was short, explosive and relentless: four ascents around Nice, with the first three taking the riders over the same climb before a steeper final route towards the Col d'Èze.

And from the gun, everyone wanted to race.

Attack after attack tried to establish a breakaway, but initially nothing was being allowed much freedom. One of the reasons was Lorena Wiebes and SD Worx-Protime.

With so few straightforward sprint opportunities in this year's Tour, Lorena's green jersey wasn't as secure as we might normally expect from the fastest sprinter in the race. She needed points at the intermediate sprint, so SD Worx had every reason to keep things together until that battle was settled.

Once we reached the climbing, though, the race completely changed.

And one of my standout performances of the entire day came from a rider I certainly wasn't expecting to see doing this kind of damage: Zoe Bäckstedt.

On the second ascent, Zoe simply got on the front for Canyon//SRAM and smashed it.

Zoe isn't known as a pure climber. She's an incredibly powerful Classics rider and an exceptional time trial-list.

Yet here she was, setting a pace that started dropping genuine climbers one after another.

It was an incredible commitment to Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney and a really clever piece of team riding.

Canyon//SRAM knew they needed to isolate Demi Vollering if they wanted any chance of taking yellow back. Zoe's job wasn't to survive until the finish. It was to make the race as hard as possible, as early as possible.

And it worked.

The front group became incredibly selective.

Marlen Reusser was gone. Kim Le Court was gone. A whole host of strong riders disappeared.

Canyon//SRAM still had Kasia and Antonia Niedermaier. Lidl-Trek had Isabella Holmgren and Niamh Fisher-Black. Paula Blasi was there, as was Dominika Włodarczyk and Elisa Longo Borghini from Team UAE.

And then there was Demi.

FDJ-SUEZ had also been whittled down significantly, but crucially, Demi still had Juliette Berthet.

Juliette deserves enormous credit for what she did today. She turned herself inside out protecting Demi and controlling the race for as long as she possibly could.

It was another reminder of something we've seen repeatedly throughout this Tour: even when one rider ultimately stands on the podium, Grand Tours are won by teams.

Then came another standout performance from one of the youngest riders in the race.

Isabella Holmgren attacked.

And she committed.

She spent a considerable amount of time alone at the front and at one point had close to a minute. It was a brave move from such a young rider on the final stage of her first Tour, and for a while it looked quite dangerous.

But when the battle for yellow finally began, everything changed.

Kasia had no choice but to attack.

She went near the top of the final climb, trying desperately to dislodge Demi and somehow turn the Tour back in her favour.

Demi responded.

Kasia tried again.

Demi responded again.

Everything Kasia threw at her, Demi answered.

And then Demi launched an attack of her own.

This time there was no response.

She powered away towards the top of the climb, leaving Kasia chasing alone before she was eventually caught by the remnants of the group behind.

Demi Vollering wasn't simply defending yellow today.

She won the stage. She won the Tour.

And she did it emphatically.

For me, that brings us to one of the biggest takeaways from this entire Tour.

Power matters.

For many years in cycling, the conversation around Grand Tour performance has focused heavily on power-to-weight. Sometimes, unfortunately, that has pushed athletes towards believing that lighter must always mean better.

I think this Tour showed us something different.

To win the Tour de France Femmes today, you need to be complete.

You need to climb. You need to time trial. You need explosiveness. You need aerodynamics. You need durability over repeated hard days. And when the road flattens after a climb, you still need the absolute power to keep moving.

Demi embodies that incredibly well.

She has been very vocal about not wanting to chase extreme weight loss. She talks about being healthy and strong. She works in the gym and values strength as part of being a complete athlete.

And over these final two days, we saw exactly why.

Yesterday she used her power to create a gap and then extend it on the fast roads into Nice.

Today she did it again.

That's something I think is incredibly positive for women's cycling.

Being healthy and strong isn't something that needs to stand in the way of performance.

It can be part of what creates it.

And I think that's a powerful message for the next generation of young girls watching this race.

There were human stories throughout this final weekend too.

Yesterday's incident between Kasia and Célia Gery became a major talking point after the stage. Kasia was understandably emotional and frustrated, believing that Célia had impeded her at a crucial moment as the yellow jersey was slipping away.

Unfortunately, the attention that followed had a very real impact on Célia. At just 20 years old, and still finding her feet at this level of the sport, it’s incredibly unfortunate that she had to experience the level of online abuse that followed.

But perhaps the whole situation is also a reminder that these riders aren't machines.

They're real people competing under enormous pressure. They're exhausted, emotions run high, and sometimes those emotions spill over immediately after a race. That doesn't necessarily excuse what is said or the consequences it can have, but it does remind us of the human beings behind the performances we watch on television.

Today, it felt like the racing itself brought some closure.

Kasia fought until she had absolutely nothing left to give. And when Demi finally rode away decisively, there could be no question about who was strongest.

Seeing Kasia reach the finish with a smile felt important too.

And then there was Elisa Longo Borghini.

What a fighter.

Elisa had started three previous editions of the Tour de France Femmes (in 2022, 2023 and 2025) but had never made it to the finish.

This time she didn't just finish.

She stood on the final podium.

After setbacks earlier in this Tour, she kept fighting, kept looking for opportunities and kept moving herself back up the general classification.

That's Elisa. She's a rider that never gives up.

And perhaps that's the perfect way to finish these Daily Race Unpacks.

This Tour had everything.

The yellow jersey changed shoulders repeatedly. We had breakaways succeed when nobody expected them to. We watched young riders announce themselves. We saw teams win races through incredible collective performances. We watched favourites struggle and others exceed every expectation.

We saw Kasia produce the ride of her life on Mont Ventoux.

And ultimately, we saw Demi Vollering prove herself to be the most complete rider of the Tour.

But perhaps more importantly, we saw crowds lining the roads day after day.

We saw people invested in the characters, the rivalries and the stories.

We saw women's cycling creating its own moments and its own history.

And that's ultimately what Follow the Femmes has been about.

Not simply following who wins.

Following the women behind the racing.

Understanding why things happen.

Getting to know the characters.

And hopefully helping more people fall in love with this sport.

What a Tour.

And what an exciting time to be following the femmes.

— Ashleigh

Cycling Is for Everyone

You don't need to race the Tour de France Femmes to be a cyclist.

Whether you ride five kilometres or one hundred, commute to work, explore with friends or simply enjoy being outdoors - you're part of this.

The hardest ride is often the first one. After that, the journey becomes your own.

Takeaway: Find your ride. Find your community. Find your Femme.

To celebrate todays ICONIC @letourfemmes stage and Mont Ventoux summit finish, Castelli is joining our party and giving one lucky winner a premium set of cycling kit !!!

Stand a chance to WIN a Set of Premium @castellicycling Kit - their Corretto W Jersey and matching bib!

To enter:

✅️ Sign up / be a member of the Rocacorba Collective
✅️ Engage with our GIVEAWAY post by tagging your #FollowTheFemmes Watch Party in the comments and mentioning your favourite thing about the TDFFaZ 2026 edition so far!
✅️ Make sure you are following @rocacorbacollective and @castellicycling

Thats it! JOIN OUR PARTY in celebrating LES FEMMES 💛💛