Marlen Reusser retained the overall lead in the Tour de France Femmes from rival Demi Vollering after another broiling stage through central France saw Kim Le Court take the second Tour stage win of her career in Tournon-sur-Rhone.

The Mauritian rider Le Court recovered from a mechanical problem earlier in the stage on the climb of the Col de Lalouvesc to join the day’s breakaway group and outsprint Cédrine Kerbaol of France, and Queen of the Mountains classification leader, Puck Pieterse.

“I was on the limit,” Le Court said of her winning sprint. “I can’t believe I still had the legs to sprint. It was really hard, this close, before I could give up. I will never give up after the big effort my team did.”

Le Court had originally been considered a contender for final victory but lost ground after Tuesday’s individual time trial. “I’ve been really struggling since the time trial day but I think this really makes our Tour,” she said.

“We’ve still got ambitions for the general classification, but winning a stage in a Tour de France is very special. People don’t really remember top 10 or top five riders in Tour, but they do remember stage winners.”

Le Court’s success is a popular one, after a difficult season in which she has dealt with serial injuries. But she has also shown considerable sportsmanship, stopping to help Kasia Niewiadoma after the 2024 Tour Femmes winner crashed heavily in Milan-San Remo.

Despite missing out on the stage victory, it was a successful day for Pieterse as she now has 47 points in the mountain classification, the highest total ever recorded in the history of the Tour de France Femmes.

“I wanted to win the stage of course,” Pieterse said, “but I think I did everything else today. I decided to gamble, but Kim was still the strongest in the sprint, so I don’t think I can be too sad.”

As the heatwave continued, the peloton raced over six classified climbs into the Ardeche, with Friday’s ascent of Mont Ventoux now very much in their thoughts.

After three days she will want to forget, defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot arrested the decline in her form and finished the stage in the group of favourites alongside Reusser, Vollering and Niewiadoma. She is still languishing in 15th place overall, five minutes behind race leader Reusser, and on Wednesday had conceded that: “It’s over.”

However, while her deficit seems almost insurmountable, her rivals will have taken note of her improved performance and of her experience of the Ventoux, which she first rode in 2021.

“I think it’s the most iconic climb in France,” Ferrand-Prevot said of the Provençal mountain. “Everyone knows about it, even if you’re not a cyclist.”

The inclusion of the Ventoux in the Tour de France Femmes is the latest indicator of a race growing in stature, year by year.

“We try to align with the most mythical summits,” Tour de France Femmes director Marion Rousse said. “They’re part of the history of the Tour and the history of the sport.”

Both Vollering and Niewiadoma have prior experience of the mountain, but not at this level of racing, and only from the less demanding north side, rather than the more daunting southern ascent. However, there is no doubt that the ascent of the Ventoux, by a women’s peloton that only a few years ago was derided by some for its abilities, will be a Rubicon moment.

One rider who never shared those doubts is current race leader Reusser. “It’s proof that human beings aren’t always such a smart species,” she said of those who had disparaged the women’s peloton.

In terms of past exploits by women on the “Giant of Provence” Nicole Cooke’s solo attack over the Ventoux, which took her to overall victory in the 2006 Grande Boucle Feminine, is perhaps the most memorable.

“I don’t suppose anybody wanted to chase me all the way up the Ventoux,” Cooke recalled. “The heat was a big factor. People don’t want to chase on a day when the heat is so debilitating.”

Cooke won the stage by four minutes and the race overall by more than six. “After the finish, we went to a cafe and had ice-creams,” she said. “It was one of the special days.”

At that time, women’s cycling had little profile and media coverage was almost nonexistent. Cooke’s achievement never really got the recognition it deserved, due to what she considered to be media’s preoccupation with the prevalence of doping in men’s cycling. The rebirth of the Tour de France Femmes however has dramatically reversed that trend. The heat will also be big factor in toFriday’s stage to the Ventoux, 20 years after Cooke’s own moment in the sun. But the inclusion of a climb that the French still call the “killer mountain”, is a total vindication of the quantum leap achieved by the women’s peloton.