Vollering wins final stage to clinch second Tour title

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Demi Vollering claimed her third stage win on this year's Tour de France Femmes - and fifth overall [Getty Images]

Demi Vollering showed her prowess on the final stage of the Tour de France Femmes to become the first two-time winner of cycling's most prestigious stage race.

The Dutch FDJ-Suez rider won the penultimate stage to snatch the leader's yellow jersey from Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney and carry an eight-second lead into Sunday's finale.

The fifth edition of the race culminated with a 99.2km mountain stage, beginning and ending in Nice, which featured four ascents of the Col d'Eze and totalled 2,100m of climbing.

Niewiadoma-Phinney's British team-mate Zoe Backstedt pushed the pace in the early stages before former race leader Marlen Reusser crashed on the second descent of the Col d'Eze.

Reusser was third in general classification, 72 seconds behind Vollering, and although the Swiss rider was able to keep riding, she was unable to get back in contention.

That left previous race winners Vollering and Niewiadoma-Phinney to battle it out and, just as Vollering did on Saturday, she pulled clear of her Polish Canyon-SRAM rival just before cresting the final climb and stretched her lead on the descent.

The 29-year-old went on to finish more than a minute ahead of her rivals as she claimed her third stage win from nine in this year's race.

Vollering and Niewiadoma-Phinney, 31, kept up their record of finishing on the podium in every edition of the race while Italy's Elisa Longo Borghini, 34, claimed her first top-three finish.

Puck Pieterse topped the mountains classification while sprinter Lorena Wiebes topped the points classification and Antonia Niedermaier, 23, was the best young rider.

Tour de France Femmes stage nine results​

1. Demi Vollering (Ned/FDJ-Suez) 2hrs 44mins 43secs
2. Paula Blasi (Spa/UAE Team ADQ) +1min 4secs
3. Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol/Canyon-SRAM) Same time
4. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZ/Lidl-Trek) "
5. Antonia Niedermaier (Ger/Canyon-SRAM) +1min 6secs
6. Isabella Holmgren (Can/Lidl-Trek) +1min 8secs
7. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita/UAE Team-L'imad) +1min 14secs
8. Femke de Vries (Ned/Visma–Lease a Bike) +1min 57secs
9. Dominika Wlodarczyk (Pol/UAE Team-L'imad) Same time
10. Cedrine Kerbaol (Fra/EF Education-Oatly) "

Final general classification​

1. Demi Vollering (Ned/FDJ-Suez) 30hrs 54mins 51secs
2. Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol/Canyon-SRAM) +1min 18secs
3. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita/UAE Team-L'imad) +4mins 29secs
4. Antonia Niedermaier (Ger/Canyon-SRAM) +5mins 10secs
5. Paula Blasi (Spa/UAE Team ADQ) +6mins 13secs
6. Cedrine Kerbaol (Fra/EF Education-Oatly) +6mins 41secs
7. Dominika Wlodarczyk (Pol/UAE Team-L'imad) +7mins 53secs
8. Isabella Holmgren (Can/Lidl-Trek) +9mins 12secs
9. Kim le Court (Mau/AG Insurance-Soudal) +14mins 4secs
10. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZ/Lidl-Trek) +15mins 14secs

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