Ferrand-Prévôt takes the lead at women's Tour de France after commanding stage win

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SAINT-FRANCOIS-LONGCHAMP, France (AP) — French rider Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt took a commanding lead at the women's Tour de France after launching a solo attack on the final climb of Saturday's penultimate stage.

She is making her Tour debut at 33 years old and leads Australian rider Sarah Gigante by 2 minutes, 37 seconds and 2023 champion Demi Vollering of the Netherlands by 3:18 heading into Sunday’s last stage.

Last year’s event had the smallest winning margin in the history of the women’s and men’s races, but Ferrand-Prévôt looks like winning far more comfortably, barring mishap.

She won the mountain bike gold medal at last year's Paris Olympics and the Paris-Roubaix classic in April.

Overnight, she trailed Mauritian rider Kim Le Court by 26 seconds heading into stage 8 from Chambéry to Saint-François-Longchamp, which took the riders on a 112-kilometer (69-mile) trek into the mountains.

It featured an early climb of 13 kilometers (8 miles) up Col de Plainpalais before finishing with a tortuous ascent of 18.6 kilometers to Col de Madeleine, one of the most famed climbs in cycling.

Ferrand-Prévôt made a move on her main rivals about 9 kms from the top, pulling away to chase after Niamh Fisher-Black and Yara Kastelijn ahead of her. She soon caught them and then rode unchallenged to clinch the stage win.

Gigante crossed the line 1:45 behind her, while Fisher-Black rolled in 2:15 behind in third spot. Vollering placed fourth.

Sunday's ninth and final stage from Praz-sur-Arly to Châtel is another mountainous route, with three big climbs, and is even longer at 124 kms.

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