Demi Vollering claimed victory on the seventh stage of the Tour de France Femmes to put herself in a strong position to win the yellow jersey.
Vollering powered through the mountain-top fog to win the 89.9km stage in two hours 52 minutes 43 seconds.
The Dutchwoman leads the overall standings by one minute 50 seconds from Poland’s Katarzyna Niewiadoma with only the individual time trial left.
“I went full gas to the finish. I felt good. I kept pushing,” Vollering said.
“I was nervous and the whole team was behind me and told me I could do it.”
Vollering had been seventh heading into the stage from Lannemezan to Tourmalet Bagneres-de-Bigorre – a minute behind previous race leader and Worx team-mate Lotte Kopecky and 12 seconds drift of defending champion Annemiek van Vleuten.
The trio were part the group that pulled clear on the first of two tough climbs before Niewiadoma broke away in the final foggy 17km ascent of the Tourmalet.
Vollering and compatriot Van Vleuten initially declined to chase the leader in a tense stand-off before the former attacked on the approach to the skiing village of La Mongie.
Vollering reeled in Niewiadoma with six kilometres remaining and summoned enough energy to get herself over the line.
Stage seven results
1. Demi Vollering (Ned/SD Worx) 2hrs 52mins 43secs
2. Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Pol/Canyon SRAM Racing) + 1min 58secs
3. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned/Movistar) +2mins 34secs
4. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (SA/AG Soudal-Quickstep) +2mins 43secs
5. Juliette Labous (Fra/DSM-Firmenich) +2mins 46secs
6. Lotte Kopecky (Bel/SD Worx) +3mins 32secs
7. Ane Santesteban (Spa/Jayco-AlUla) +5mins 24secs
8. Marta Cavalli (Ita/FDJ-Suez) +5mins 43secs
9. Cecilie Ludwig (Den/FDJ-Suez) +5mins 46secs
10. Ricarda Bauernfeind (Ger/Canyon/SRAM) +6mins 57secs
General classification
1. Demi Vollering (Ned/SD Worx) 24hrs 48mins 10secs
2. Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Pol/Canyon SRAM Racing) +1min 50secs
3. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned/Movistar) +2mins 28secs
4. Lotte Kopecky (Bel/SD Worx) +2mins 35secs
5. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (SA/AG Soudal-Quickstep) +2mins 39secs
6. Juliette Labous (Fra/DSM-Firmenich) +3mins 41secs
7. Ane Santesteban (Spa/Jayco-AlUla) +6mins 23secs
8. Cecilie Ludwig (Den/FDJ-Suez) +6mins 42secs
9. Ricarda Bauernfeind (Ger/Canyon-SRAM) +7mins 42secs
10. Amanda Spratt (Aus/Lidl-Trek) + +8mins 18secs
