Vollering beaten by Pieterse in dramatic photo finish to take Stage 4 win

Demi Vollering was beaten by Puck Pieterse in a dramatic photo finish on Stage 4 at the Tour de France Femmes on Wednesday.

A strong group of four was formed with 13km to the finish line as Pieterse, Vollering, Kasa Niewiadoma, and Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) broke from the peloton on the approach to the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons summit.

Pieterse took maximum points on the final climb to back up a strong ascent of Côte de la Redoute where she also reached the summit first.

It was the 22-year-old’s first-ever professional road victory in her debut appearance at the Tour de France Femmes, which is also the first stage race in her career.

Prior to the Tour she had only raced in 10 road races, but impressed in the spring with seven top-10 finishes in eight road participations this year.

A talented multidisciplinary rider, Pieterse had a stellar debut season on the mountain bike in 2023 with multiple UCI Mountain Bike World Cup victories as well as the European title, which she defended in 2024 alongside a further three World Cup triumphs.

She finished second and third in the XCC and XCO at the World Championships last August, and took fourth place at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after a puncture cost her a medal. In addition, she’s a force to be reckoned with in cyclocross and has also finished in the top three at the past two World Championships among other accolades.

She turned her disappointment from the Olympics around to achieve the spectacular feat of beating Vollering in the sprint to take Stage 4 of the Tour de France Femmes in Liège. She also stormed to the top of the Queen of the Mountains and Best Young Rider classifications.

The memorable victory also saw her become the youngest-ever Tour de France Femmes stage winner.

Before the live pictures started Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) had swept up maximum points on the first four climbs which saw her finish the stage second in the Queen of the Mountains classification.

Movistar’s Sara Martín had earned a lead of over a minute as the live feed began and remained ahead to take first palace in the intermediate sprint at Pepinster.

The race was stalled soon after as they were forced to wait for a train at a level crossing. Martín’s lead was reestablished as they got back underway but the Spanish rider was soon closed down on as the Mont-Theux climb begun.

It was an impressive day all around for the Fenix-Deceuninck as they shone on the climbs in the latter part of the stage. Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) took maximum points at the summit of Mont-Theux in a sprint against Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance – Soudal Team).

The Belgian team worked well on the Côte de la Redoute climb with Kastelijn, Rooijakkers, and Pieterse all up towards the front before the eventual stage winner took the five points at the summit ahead of Niewiadoma and Vollering.

The AG Insurance – Soudal Team then took the first two places on the Côte des Forges climb as Ghekiere and Sarah Gigante reached the summit ahead of Kastelijn.

Ghekiere attacked soon after and went solo with 23km remaining and stayed ahead for 10 kilometres until she was met by a Vollering-led peloton.

The group of four was then formed as Niewiadoma, Pieterse, and Rooijakkers went with the yellow jersey to the summit of Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons.

Vollering added important bonus seconds to her general classification lead she picked up six seconds in Boncelles. With Rooijakkers now dropped, Niewiadoma and Pieterse swept up the remaining four and two seconds.

The trio stayed ahead as they whittled down the remaining kilometres and crossed the Flamme Rouge together with a lead of around 30 seconds.

Niewiadoma attacked within the last 800m and managed to create a small gap, but Vollering closed her down, Pieterse locked on the defending champion’s wheel.

Pieterse launched her sprint early from the back of the group and surpassed them both, but was soon to be joined in the front by Vollering.

The young Dutch rider kicked on and won the sprint on the line ahead of Vollering in the photo finish, a win that truly cemented her as a triple-discipline star as her burgeoning career continues to reach new heights.

Niewiadoma finished third, and it was 29 seconds before the group behind made it to the finish line led by Kim Le Court (AG Insurance – Soudal Team). The top 10 was completed by Noemi Rüegg (EF-Oatly-Cannondale), Thalita de Jong (Lotto Dstny), Évita Muzic (FDJ – SUEZ), Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl – Trek), Niamh Fisher-Black (Team SD Worx – Protime), and Mareille Meijering (Movistar).

Vollering retained the yellow jersey with Pieterse moving into second after her victory, 22 seconds behind from the yellow jersey time of 7:40:10. Niewiadoma is 34 seconds back in third while Kristen Faulkner (EF-Oatly-Cannondale) and Juliette Labous (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) sit in fourth and fifth respectively.

Stage five will see the the peloton travel 152.5 km from Bastogne to Amnéville and features five classified climbs in another hilly day as the intensity builds at the Tour de France Femmes.