Niewiadoma seizes Tour de France Femmes lead on Mont Ventoux

Kasia Niewiadoma crushed her two rivals Marlen Reusser and Demi Vollering to win the Tour de France Femmes Queen stage on Friday and leap into a narrow overall lead.

Starting the day third 1min 17sec down, the Polish rider attacked a massive 8km from the summit of Mont Ventoux in the Provence region of southern France.

By the time all three main contenders had crossed the line she held a 15sec lead overall on Vollering and Reusser had folded to third overall at 39sec.

"I'm just so tired and so blown away with what just happened," she said after an agonising final kilometre on stage seven.

"As we started to climb Mont Ventoux, I looked right and I saw my parents. They made a surprise visit, I could see my dad crying, and I was like, 'I just need to make them proud.'"

Niewiadoma won the title in 2024 and took a risky early attack with a track record as the better climer of the three.

The 31-year-old explained her early attack was due to the wind and how it would be harder on the upper lunar landscapes of the mountain to drop the other two.

"She was incredible today, really, well done for her," said Reusser of the winner.

The Canyon-SRAM rider eventually crested the 1910m altitude finish line 1min 16sec ahead of Dutch rider Vollering, who unlike Niewiadoma flew up the final section to claw back around 30 seconds that could eventually prove crucial.

Niewiadoma beat Vollering to the title in 2024 by just four seconds.

Italian Elisa Longo Borghini also finished strong on the day in third another 26 sec off the pace overhauling Reusser near the line.

Defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot of France ended 10 minutes down on the day.

Saturday's penultimate run to Nice would appear set for a mass sprint finish but Niewiadoma said she would be wary.

"There's a hill near the end and I know it won't be easy," she said.

The race also ends in Nice on Sunday with a title struggle in the hills outside the Riviera city ripe for a tense finale.