Kim Le Court won Tour Femmes stage 6 in Tournon-sur-Rhône after bridging late to the decisive move and finishing fastest from a reduced group.
The Mauritius champion, riding for AG Insurance-Soudal, beat Cédrine Kerbaol of EF Education-Oatly and Puck Pieterse of Fenix-Premier Tech in a six-rider sprint. The victory gave Le Court a Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift stage win for the second consecutive edition.
Marlen Reusser of Movistar kept the yellow jersey after the main GC group finished 28 seconds behind Le Court. Reusser continues to lead Demi Vollering of FDJ United-SUEZ by 12 seconds before the race heads toward Mont Ventoux.
Tour Femmes stage 6 decided by late chase
The stage began in Montbrison and quickly developed into a hot, hilly contest. Josie Nelson of Picnic PostNL launched the first attack, but the British rider did not survive to the final selection.
Loes Adegeest of Lidl-Trek, Nikola Nosková of Cofidis and Katrine Aalerud of Uno-X Mobility then moved clear on the Côte de la Prunerie. The peloton kept the pace high, and Anna van der Breggen of SD Worx-ProTime was briefly distanced before returning.
The breakaway trio never gained enough space to shape the stage. The race changed on the Col de Lalouvesc inside the final 60km, when world champion Magdeleine Vallieres drove the tempo for EF Education-Oatly teammate Kerbaol.
Le Court was among the riders put under pressure on the climb. Paula Blasi of UAE Team L’IMAD attacked with 51km remaining, but French champion Célia Gery of FDJ United-SUEZ followed immediately.
A 32-rider group reached the summit together, where Pieterse collected maximum points in her pursuit of the polka-dot jersey.
Gery then lit up the descent with 34km to go. Sarah Van Dam of Visma | Lease a Bike, Elisa Longo Borghini of UAE Team L’IMAD, Lianne Lippert of Movistar, Pieterse and Kerbaol joined her.
That group built a lead of more than 30 seconds before the Côte de Boucieu-le-Roi, the final categorised climb. Behind, youth classification leader Antonia Niedermaier of Canyon//SRAM set a strong pace in the yellow jersey group.
Femke De Vries of Visma | Lease a Bike, the Dutch team’s highest-placed GC rider after Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s struggles, lost contact early on the climb. Marion Bunel waited to support her.
Pieterse again took maximum mountain points at the summit with just under 16km remaining. Kerbaol attacked over the top, but she could not shake the rest of the lead group.
Le Court turns pursuit into victory
Riejanne Markus of Lidl-Trek tried to move from the yellow jersey group with 14km to race. Le Court responded, and the pair faced a chase of about 40 seconds to the six leaders.
They closed the gap quickly and reached the front with just under 10km remaining. Le Court then won the bonification sprint for six seconds, while Longo Borghini took four.
Vollering contributed to the chase behind, but the front group carried enough advantage into Tournon-sur-Rhône to contest the victory.
Le Court attacked with just over 4km remaining and briefly appeared to have stolen the stage. Longo Borghini refused to let the move go, closing the gap before also neutralising counters from Kerbaol and Markus.
The leaders hesitated near the flamme rouge, and Markus tried again. Le Court shut that move down with around 600 metres left, then launched the sprint herself.
She held off Kerbaol and Pieterse to complete a major comeback from her earlier difficulties on the Lalouvesc. The GC riders now face a potentially decisive summit finish on Mont Ventoux at the 2026 Tour de France Femmes.
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