Niewiadoma holds on to win Tour de France Femmes

Poland’s Katarzyna Niewiadoma claimed her first Tour de France Femmes title after holding off last year’s winner Demi Vollering, who won a dramatic final stage.

Niewiadoma, 29, finished fourth on the Alpe d’Huez and collapsed into tears as she realised she had done enough to retain her overall lead from the penultimate seventh stage by four seconds.

Pauliena Rooijakkers, of the Netherlands, came second on the stage and Evita Muzic, of France, finished third.

The Netherlands’ Vollering, who rides for SD Worx-Protime, began the day eighth overall and trailed Canyon–SRAM’s Niewiadoma by one minute and 15 seconds.

Vollering proved her credentials as the pre-stage favourite to storm to victory on the 149.9km ride from Le Grand-Bornand to Alpe d’Huez, having to wait for the chasing pack.

Niewiadoma struggled on the final climb but recovered to finish one minute and one second behind Vollering.

Rooijakkers, meanwhile, finished third overall.

Final general classification

1. Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Pol/Canyon-SRAM) 24hrs 36mins 07secs

2. Demi Vollering (Ned/SD Worx-Protime) +04secs

3. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned/Fenix-Deceuninck) +10secs

4. Evita Muzic (Fra/FDJ–Suez) +1min 21secs

5. Gaia Realini (Ita/TFS) +2mins 19secs

6. Cedrine Kerbaol (Fra/Ceratizit-WNT) +2mins 51secs

7. Sarah Gigante (Aus/AG-Soudal) +7mins 09secs

8. Lucinda Brand (Ned/Lidl–Trek) +8mins 06secs

9. Juliette Labous (Fra/Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +8mins 07secs

10. Thalita de Jong (Ned/Lotto Dstny) +8mins 12secs