Maeva Squiban wins Stage 6 after long-range attack as Kim Le Court boosts GC cushion at Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift

Maeva Squiban landed the biggest win of her career at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift with a bold solo attack on the Col du Chansert, holding off the peloton after a fearless descent. But the big general classification winner was Kim Le Court, who added another eight bonus seconds after finishing third, extending her overall lead to 26 seconds as the race heads into its final stages.

Maeva Squiban (UAE ADQ) soloed to a superb victory on Stage 6 at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift as Kimberley Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) grabbed more bonus seconds to extend her overall lead.

The Frenchwoman took off with 32 kilometres remaining, just before the summit of the Cat. 2 Col du Chansert, and showcased fearless descending skills as she easily held off the chasers for the biggest win of her career.

Le Court finished third, hoovering up eight bonus seconds on the run to Ambert, stretching her general classification (GC) lead over Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Visma-Lease a Bike) to 26 seconds. Defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) moved up to third.

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On a stage where a 20-rider breakaway went up the road, the first mountain test of this year's Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift would come down to the GC contenders and a fearless Squiban, who timed her attack to perfection.

After her team suffered the losses of their GC favourite Elisa Longo Borghini, Eleonora Camilla Gasparrini and Karlijn Swinkels, the 23-year-old would give her team something to celebrate as she held a 1'25" lead over the peloton of favourites to become the first French rider to win a stage during the 2025 edition.

A stage with five categorised climbs - the most of this year's Tour - as the riders travelled to the commune of Ambert, would see a battle to make the breakaway of the day, as green jersey Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) also tried her luck to no success.

Two riders who did manage to make their attacks stick were Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez) and Linda Zanetti (Uno-X Mobility), who were shortly joined by a group of 18, as Chabbey picked up the maximum 25 points on offer at the only intermediate sprint of the day.

Elise Chabbey of Switzerland and Team FDJ - SUEZ - Polka Dot Mountain Jersey leads the breakaway during the 4th Tour de France Femmes 2025, Stage 6 /a 123.7km stage from Clermont-Ferrand to Ambert #UCIWWT / on July 31, 2025 in Ambert, France

Image credit: Getty Images

The 20-rider breakaway would eventually reduce to a much more manageable 12, as queen of the mountains leader Chabbey defended her polka dot jersey as she faced competition from Sylvie Swinkels (Roland) and Brodie Chapman (UAE ADQ).

Whilst she was pipped to the maximum points by Chapman on the second categorised climb of the day, the Cote d'Augerolles (cat. 3, 2.7km at 5.1%), Chabbey would beat the duo to collect 10 points on the only Cat. 1 climb of the day, Col du Beal (10.3km at 5.6%).

Despite a last dig from Chabbey, the catch was eventually made with 33km to go, which only sparked another set of attacks.

A short attack by Ricarda Bauerfeind (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) and Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek) would be reeled in, before UAE ADQ's Squiban surged past the group of favourites to go 17" clear within a matter of kilometres.

The Frenchwoman's advantage would grow to over a minute with 30km to go as she picked up the five points at the top of Col du Chansert, with Chabbey putting the QOM classification to bed for now.

A mechanical issue for Lidl-Trek's GC hopeful Niamh Fisher-Black would scupper the New Zealand rider's chances, as she was forced to wait for her team car and limit her losses on the final descent.

A chance for some bonus seconds would spark a fight within the group of GC contenders, with Le Court boosting her lead in the yellow jersey by four seconds, and reigning champion Niewiadoma-Phinney beating Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) to the remaining two seconds to move up to third in the GC.

As Squiban's advantage continued to grow to 1'30" with 3.8km to go, a late attack by Juliette Labous, which would see the FDJ-Suez rider go clear with 9.1km to go, would offer little impact on Squiban's lead.

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Video credit: TNT Sports

Crossing the line 1'13" ahead of the bunch, it proved to be an exceptional performance from the UAE ADQ rider to secure France's first winner of this year's edition of the race and lift the spirits of a team which had been hit by withdrawals.

"It's a dream," she said. "It's an amazing feeling. I didn't expect to do that.

"I knew we had a strong team, we are only four [riders] now but we were all really strong and we knew we were able to do something big today and we did it so it's a special day for us."

Labous would finish at 1'09", only gaining four seconds in the general classification, with a fight for the remaining bonus seconds seeing Le Court picking up eight bonus seconds on the line to retain the yellow jersey into Stage 7.

Speaking after the race, Le Court was praised by her team-mates as she prepared for a decisive weekend in the Grand Tour.

"The goal was to control the race", she said. "At the beginning, we got a bit stuck with the big break so we had to control the race from the start and we were preparing for that after yesterday.

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Video credit: TNT Sports

"And then it was a matter of seeing if the legs were there, if I felt good and being looked after by my teammates. I couldn't ask for a better team, they are so dedicated to me and the goal.

"I felt super strong so we tried to close the gap to the front rider and try and get the stage but we knew it was not going to happen so I tried to take the last kilometres easy and recover for tomorrow.

"I got third place on the line and more bonus seconds so I couldn't have wished for better."

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