Vollering, Niewiadoma, Gigante, Ferrand-Prévot... What have the Tour de France Femmes favourites said ahead of the queen stage?

Stage 8 of the Tour de France Femmes is going to be the single most important stage of the race, the toughest day in the mountains with a brutal summit finish on the Col de la Madeleine. Whilst so far the differences have been of seconds, it is quite certain that there will be minutes separating even the best on this day. Demi Vollering, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and many of the other main favourites have spoken before this key day.

Race leader Kim Le Court heroically defended her yellow jersey on the descent of the Col du Granon this Friday but the task will be extra hard this time around, with nowhere to hide in the Alpine ascent. She was proud of her own performance: "At the top, I was on my own. I had to ride the descent of my life. I had reconnoitered it a few weeks earlier, so I knew what was coming. But I think I went down 10 times faster than I did then," she said in an interview where she also criticized FDJ - Suez' tactics.

Stage 8 will feature a very difficult ascent right at the start of the day with the Col du Planpais featuring 13.3 kilometers at 6.3% which in itself could become a trap for many riders, but it's the 19-kilometer long ascent to the line at 8% that really has the potential to devastate the overall classification.

Here's what her rivals have said after stage 7 or right at the start of today's stage:

"It was surprising that she (Kim Le Court, ed.) had to drop back. I already suspected she wasn't very good. Her team didn't do anything, and she was often at the back of the group. In the end, she managed to come back, which was quite impressive. Pauliena Rooijakkers rode very strongly up the climb. She made it tough. But it wasn't a particularly difficult climb, and there was a lot of wind. So you had a slight advantage by riding on the wheels."

"As you know by now, my slogan is 'it all starts with dreaming.' We wanted to get people moving in this Tour. That's not only important for your physical health, but especially for your mental health. 'It all starts with dreaming' begins with movement. Movement gives you freedom in your mind. Then you can start dreaming, and dreams give you purpose. That helps a lot in your life."

“I know a lot. I went to do the recon there, many times, because I knew it was important to know. The race will be decided there. You know, in mountain biking, you know every single route, every single corner – I also wanted to have the same pattern and to know very well the climb like this. You feel much more comfortable, you know where you are, and it’s also mentally easier. It’s around an hour and 20 or 30 minutes' worth of climbing – an effort I’m used to doing in mountain biking. I think it’s going to be a head-to-head race, and I’m going to concentrate on myself and my effort.”

“I’m not tired. I was in control today. For me, it’s been a good day. I told myself, ‘My race is tomorrow.’ Today it wasn’t the goal to take the yellow jersey. You can’t be confident. I don’t know how the others are now, but for sure I felt good again today. I didn’t use a lot of energy. I think I’m still fresh for tomorrow, so, let’s see".

“I wasn’t going all-out. It was definitely a hard pace by Fenix from which Pauliena [Rooijakkers] attacked, but it kind of settled from there. It was a hard day, also just because it was the first hot day, so it was demanding on the body. It’s been interesting racing so far. I feel like because of the Col de la Madeleine tomorrow, everyone is just still holding themselves back. I was surprised that Demi tried. On paper it looked like it would be nice descent to do something. But when we did the recon, we could tell that the first 8km were like five to six percent, so you really had to pedal a lot and keep on pushing if you wanted to get the speed. That’s not ideal for making any difference because people on your wheel can just freewheel".

“The last switchbacks were something where I was maybe hoping to gain some time. I was in a good wheel on Cédrine [Kerbaol] before entering the corners, then I lost my momentum in the roundabout by braking, and she was gone [...] “My body is feeling as good as it can be after seven stages. I mean, everyone is battling fatigue, tomorrow will be about who can say no to all this negativity popping in your head, you know, so we shall see."

"My legs felt good today. But the descent was difficult for me. I knew beforehand that this was going to be a tough stage. I'm so happy that Justine Ghekiere was there for me again. She saved my general classification once again. She completely sacrificed herself for me and gave up her own chances. On the descent, she did everything for me: encouraging me, calling me out, and especially closing the gaps. It was a legendary ride for her."

"I woke up from my own screams (from dislocating her shoulders during the night, ed.). I've experienced this before. Luckily, the shoulder was quickly back in the right place,"

"She's had a few hard crashes and is just riding down the group, completely exhausted. And no one can imagine where we've come from, because Sarah didn't finish in the peloton even once last year; she either won or was dropped downhill. Now she rarely lets that gap fall; she's made immense progress in that regard. It's not perfect yet, but the steps she's taken in the past two or three months have been incredible. It's a shame that a shoulder injury caused her to be on the rollers in April and May and lacked race rhythm, but she quickly rectified that".  

"We don't know exactly what she's worth against Demi Vollering; we'll have to see what happens. But everyone else... On Madeleine, she can gain minutes on others, which could have put her between fifth and tenth place even though she's far behind. But now she's much closer. Sarah only came to the Tour to show off on the Madeleine; she had no GC ambitions. After seven days, we expected her to be seven or eight minutes behind, but the others never really made up any time. I don't understand that. They definitely attacked her on the descents, because Sarah rides really hard downhill, for her standards. She even says they attack her there, but then they always let her come back. Vollering remains the favorite for me, but I think Sarah is about equal to her. I hope she reaches the foot of the Madeleine safely and can do her thing; then I think the others behind Vollering will start to wonder. But that's not our problem, is it?"