Tour de France Femmes: Demi Vollering seals yellow jersey, team mate Marlen Reusser wins time trial

Demi Vollering has won the second edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift as her SD Worx team dominated the closing time trial of the race in Pau, with the stage win going to Marlen Reusser and Lotte Kopecky moving from fourth to second overall, as well as confirming her victory in the points classification.

Reusser, the European champion in the discipline, started the day in 30th place overall, a little over half an hour off the race lead, but only Vollering, who had moved into the yellow jersey after clinching yesterday’s stage on the Col du Tourmalet, came close to challenging her time of 29 minutes 15 seconds on today’s stage, finishing 10 seconds behind her team-mate.

To cap a terrific day for the Netherlands-based team, Kopecky, who won the opening stage of the race in Clermont-Ferrand last Sunday and held the yellow jersey until yesterday evening, set the third-fastest time of the day, 28 seconds further back on Vollering.

In doing so, she edged out the Canyon-SRAM rider Kasia Niewiadoma, second overall this morning, to clinch the runners-up spot on the general classification, with the Polish rider having the consolation of winning the polka-dot jersey as Queen of the Mountains.

The 45 seconds that Kopecky gained over Niewiadoma this afternoon put them on the same finishing time on the general classification, both of them 3 minutes 3 seconds behind the winner, with the SD Worx rider taking the second spot on the podium by a fraction of a second.

Kopecky not only leapfrogged Niewiadoma in the overall standings, but also defending champion Annemiek van Vleuten of Movistar, who in her final participation in the race ahead of her retirement finished fourth on the general classification, 56 seconds off the podium.