Stage 6 - Saint Dié des Vosges to Rosheim - 128.6km - Friday, July 29
With only three stages left in the eight-stage Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, today's hilly stage is an important one for any GC hopefuls. The 128.6km course doesn't contain any particularly steep climbs or technical sections, but will certainly be a tactical race, particularly for those riders hoping to claim the QOM jersey as they head into mountain stages in the final two stages.
The course has four QOM climbs and an intermediate sprint. It finishes on a downhill as riders speed into Rosheim, which could make for an exciting finish if the peloton is still together.
Riders to Watch
Jumbo-Visma's Marianne Vos is still sitting in the yellow and has grown her gap to 20 seconds over her top competition, Silvia Persico and Kasia Niewadoma. But with three stages left, and two of them being mountain stages, Vos will be fighting hard in Stage 6 to extend her lead in the yellow, and to maintain her green jersey (yep, she's technically leading in both GC and points standings).
More From Bicycling
Because the final two stages are mountain stages, the climbers will have a distinct advantage once they make it through this stage—so expect to see riders like Moolman-Pasio in the main group but not working too hard, in order to preserve energy for the final days and big climbs.
Expect another sprint finish, and as we've seen in the last five stages, don't take for granted that only the usual suspects will be at the front of the race. The Tour de France Femmes has so much attention around it that teams and individuals are giving it their all to take a single sprint, stage win, QOM, or even just a really impressive attack. And with mountains coming up, this might be the last stage where riders are finishing (mostly) in one large pack.
When to Watch
The race will begin at 7:00AM EST and take roughly 3 hours and 15 minutes to complete. Stream it on the Peacock App starting at 8:15AM EST or watch the replay later. (Your NBC credentials should allow you to log in, or if you don't have cable, a month-long subscription to Peacock is reasonably cheap!) For those in Canada, FloBikes will be broadcasting the race.
Note: Each day, only two and a half hours of the race will be broadcast, hence the difference in the start time of the race and the start time of the broadcast.
If you're concerned about missing some pedaling time while you spectate the race, you can always hop on Zwift and ride sections of Zwift Island created to mimic parts of each stage—and join other Tour de France Femmes-obsessed fans while you ride!
