First Tour de France Is a Win

French rider Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt won the women's Tour de France at her first attempt on Sunday, launching an attack to clinch the final stage and increase her overnight lead. It gave Ferrand-Prévôt a resounding victory. She finished 3 minutes, 42 seconds ahead of 2023 champion Demi Vollering of the Netherlands and 4:09 clear of defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma of Poland, the AP reports. "After my Olympic title, I said I would try to win the Tour de France in the next three years," said the 33-year-old Ferrand-Prévôt, an Olympic champion in mountain biking at last year's Paris Games. "So here I am."

There was little of the drama of last year's final day, which produced a 4-second winning margin for the narrowest victory in the history of the women's and men's races. Ferrand-Prévôt had put herself largely in control by winning Saturday's eighth and penultimate stage with an audacious solo breakaway on the last climb. That gave her an overnight lead of 2:37 seconds over Australian rider Sarah Gigante and 3:18 over Vollering. Sunday's ninth stage from Praz-sur-Arly to Châtel was a 77-mile trek featuring three big mountain climbs. The crowds cheered her all the way to the finish line and, moments later, the tears flowed as she lay on her back, exhausted but elated.