Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset delivered a Haugset solo victory for Uno-X Mobility on stage 3 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, attacking 88km from the finish and surviving more than two hours alone.
The Norwegian reached Poligny 1:24 ahead of Lotte Kopecky of SD Worx-Protime, who had chased alone for about 75km. The general classification contenders came in close to three minutes behind the stage winner.
Haugset also moved into a strong lead in the yellow jersey before Tuesday’s crucial time trial. Kim Le Court Pienaar of AG Insurance Soudal sits second overall at 2:02. Demi Vollering of FDJ Suez is third, 2:06 down.
Haugset solo victory turns stage 3 upside down
The 157km stage began in Geneva before crossing into France and finishing on flatter roads in Poligny. Its profile split the race into two very different halves.
The opening section featured hard climbing, including the Col de la Faucille after only 25km of racing. The later roads trended downward from the early high point.
Teams used the climbs to put pressure on Lorena Wiebes, the dominant sprinter from SD Worx-Protime. Wiebes held on deep into the category 1 climb but lost contact near the summit.
Elisa Balsamo of Lidl-Trek also missed the front group. Both fast finishers ended up in a small gruppetto, while their teams chose not to chase immediately.
Haugset helped create an 11-rider move soon after the opening climbs. She then attacked again with 88km remaining and committed fully to the long-range move.
Kopecky responded around 15km later, setting up an unusual solo pursuit across the hilly course. At first, the move looked too ambitious for both riders.
Instead, the peloton stalled under severe heat, with temperatures reported at 37 degrees. Several riders struggled in the European heatwave, including Kristen Faulkner of the United States.
With 50km left, Haugset still held about five minutes over the bunch. Kopecky trailed the leader by around one minute.
Vollering attacks after early crash
Vollering had crashed earlier in the stage but later showed no clear signs of lasting trouble. Puck Pieterse, Noemi Ruegg, and Magdeleine Vallieres were also involved.
No injuries were reported for any of the four riders.
Vollering animated the race again on the Côte de Chaux-Champagny, the final categorized climb. She attacked for the bonus seconds available at the summit.
That acceleration prompted responses from the main general classification riders. However, the race soon returned to the long pursuit between Haugset and Kopecky.
Kopecky reduced the gap to only 10 seconds inside the final 10km, as Haugset began to fade badly. Yet the Belgian also ran out of energy after her own huge chase.
Haugset rebuilt her advantage on the run to Poligny and crossed the line more than a minute clear. She collapsed in exhaustion after securing only the second win of her career.
Her previous victory was reportedly the 2026 Norwegian championships, also won with a long solo of 112km.
At the finish, Haugset said she had doubted the move when Kopecky chased behind. She described the result as “unreal” and said she was too dizzy to celebrate properly.
The stage leaves Haugset in yellow before the time trial. The mountains later in the week may change the race again, but her stage 3 raid already ranks as a major upset.
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