What a race it’s been. To close it out, Jeremy Whittle’s report from Alpe D’Huez.

On the rostrum, Demi Volllering looks the most disappointed race winner you are ever likely to see as she receives her award for winning the eighth stage. She came so close. But not close enough, sadly for her.

The jersey winners:

• Yellow: Niewiadoma

• Green: Vos

• White: Pieterse

• Polka: Ghekiere

Full results and report to follow but here’s a Reuters recap.

Poland’s Katarzyna Niewiadoma won her first Tour de France Femmes title on Sunday, fighting off the challenge of defending champion Demi Vollering on the Alpe d’Huez who won a dramatic final stage - but not by enough to retain her crown.

Niewiadoma crossed the line in fourth place and broke down in tears as she realised she had done enough to keep the yellow jersey by a margin of four seconds, with Pauliena Rooijakkers taking second place on the stage and Evita Muzic third.
Vollering (SD-Worx-Protime) began the day eighth overall, one minute and 15 seconds down on Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), but the Dutch rider was expected to be the main danger on the 149.9-km ride from Le Grand-Bornand to Alpe d’Huez.

She crossed the line first but then had the agonising wait for her rival, and Niewiadoma, in a world of pain on the final climb, bravely battled to come in one minute and one second behind Vollering.

Vollering did take an extra 10 seconds for the stage win, but narrowly missed out on what would have been an exceptional comeback after losing the yellow jersey following a crash on stage five.

Tour de France winner Kasia Niewiadoma speaks: “It’s so crazy. It was such a crazy rollercoaster. I had such a bad moment on Glandon. I have to thank Lucinda and Lidl-Trek. We had to minimise the gap. They were screaming the last two km. I hated it so much on that climb. This victory goes to so many people. On the Glandon I lost my confidence. All of a sudden I got my power back. You crack…and I ate everything I had in my pocket.“

Third-placed Rooijakkers speaks. “I can be really happy. Third. The whole week with the team we worked really hard. Just stick in Demi’s wheel and go full out.”

The tears begin to flow at this point, too.

Demi Vollering is in pieces, floods of tears. Sport can be so cruel. That was still one of the best rides of her brilliant career.

That was one of the finest races you are ever likely to see. Incroyable. Niewiadoma lifts her bike in the air in the style of Remco Evenepoel. It came down to just four seconds…that’s half of the margin of the 1989 men’s race, the greatest of all.

Katarzyna Niewiadoma takes her time to realise that she is the victor. And there are tears. Vollering gave it everything, and collapsed on the line. She’s back up, her eyes betraying both exhaustion and disappointment. To come so close after that crash was such a brave, brilliant ride. But it wasn’t enough.

1km to go: It could go to bonus seconds. Muzic tries to get away from Niewiadoma. who is grimacing. Up the front, Vollering and Rooijakkers cannot be separated. Neither can shake the other. With one click to go Niewiadoma has it in her grasp.

3km to go: Kerbaol and Cavallar are in the third group on the mountain. Vollering rounds another bend and there are deep, deep breaths as she tries to wrest her crown back. She asks her race partner for another turn, and the gap is down to 50 seconds. Niewiadoma is hauling her group on and can probably see her nemeses up ahead.

4km to go: The gap flickers one way and the other, still waiting for that decisive move. When does the Vollering move come? She’s running out of hairpins to make it. The gradient is 12%. Niewiadoma’s out of the saddle as the lead group approaches the steep section. Moments of truth are imminent.

5km to go: Niewiadoma’s delivered a pearler of a ride. Her crown is not being surrendered at all meekly. Whatever happens now, she has much to be proud of. She can do little about the possible fireworks ahead but if the two Dutch riders sputter, she will be there or there about. She leads the race by a virtual 13 seconds. Vollering and Rooijakkers are meanwhile playing with each other’s heads. Realini looks stronger than Muzic in this second group.

6km to go: Niewiadoma continues to be accompanied by Muzic and Realini. The numbers aren’t as large as we might be used to on L’Alpe, meaning this is a far more lonely experience when they enter the quiet patches of road. The Dutch fans are out in force, though, making plenty of noise. The good thing: no morons running alongside the riders, or idiots trying to do some kind of selfie.

7km to go: There’s another battle on – for the white jersey – Puck Pieterse and Shirin van Androu are riding together. There’s a gap of 45 seconds between them on GC. Up the front, Vollering and Rooijakkers are in more conversation. They are trying to psych each other out. When does the attack come? We know it’s coming. Just when?

8km to go: We await the attacks from those riders who need to mount them. Bonus seconds might come into it, and Vollering won four of them on Saturday. Niewiadoma is in yellow by just three seconds. But that oscillates by the yard. This is such a brilliant race.

9km to go: Niewiadoma is holding on by her fingertips as they enter the latest hairpin. The steep ramps are where the discipline of L’Alpe is, the sharp turns, the sudden changes in gradient. It’s a fearsome prospect for any rider. It must be nerve-wracking to have it be the difference between total victory and utter, crashing disappointment.

10km to go: Vollering and Rooijakkers ask each other to work, the elbows flicking out. The gap is opening back up towards a minute. Niewiadoma was dropped on the Glandon, let us recall. How’s her form on this climb?

11km to go: The crowds are encouraging them on, plenty of noise as Vollering goes deep to try and retain her crown. So many variables. Niewiadoma is with Muzic and Realini, who was done such a good turn by Brand. There’s also a polka dot jersey to be won, too. Ghekiere is in one of the chasing groups and needs one last push.

13km to go: Vollering sits in her saddle while Rooijakkers is all over her bike. This pair need to work together as Niewiadoma’s group has whittled them down, and the Pole is back in virtual – and actual – yellow.

15km to go: Lucinda Brand is the heroine of the hour for the yellow jersey, working for Gaia Realini, keeping her Lidl teammate in the hunt for overall victory. The gap is down to 45 seconds. The two at the front have stopped working together.

20km to go: Lucinda Brown is pulling the yellow jersey group along again, squeezing the margins. Vollering and Rooijakkers are aware the former is asking her partner to take her turn. Rooijakkers complies. The same discussions are taking place in the yellow jersey group.

25km to go: Vollering sheds her rain jacket, takes on some fuel and soon enough, Pauliena Rooijakkers joins up with her. That famous flat spot in the valley approaches, and they will pace each other along. Well, they are supposed to. Vollering can be heard asking her compatriot to do a turn on the front. As it stands, Pauliena Rooijakkers is in virtual yellow, by one second from Niewiadoma and two from Vollering. This could be so so close.

30km to go: More breakneck descending and Vollering distances Rooijakkers, adding precious seconds to her advantage. The race is on right until the very last cm of Alpe D’Huez. This has been no disappointment.

35km to go: The speeds are reaching 94km/h – Kerbaol is protecting her podium positiom . As the race hits a flatter spot, Niewiadoma can be seen working away. The gap is dropping to around a minute. Vollering and Rooijakkers are chatting away, working on strategy. They need each other. Until they try and do the other one over later in the race. Rooijakkers is riding the race of her life against a true great in Vollering.

40km to go: The gap opens to 1’ 24”, then drops to 1’15’ and it means the yellow jersey is flickering, like Michael J Fox in Back To The Future. The speed of the riders down the hill is breakneck. Vollering and Rooijakkers are in the lead. L’Alpe D’Huez might be a battle between the both of them. The yellow jersey group is benefitting from the descending skills of Lucinda Brand of Lidl-Trek. They are all screaming down the hill.

56km to go: Ghekiere looks desperately tired as she drops back into the peloton and possibly out the back. Her spell in virtual yellow was all too brief. Valentina Cavallar, rather covered up during this tour, has made her way up to the break. And now Demi Vollering’s team are putting the pressure on, Ghekiere has gone, so has Vos. Cavallar rides up to the front and beyond, the Arkea B&B rider. The break is spread all over the road now, and the race all over the mountain. The broom wagon may beckon for some.

60km to go: We have a solo attack, it’s Spain’s Mavi Garcia, going away from the peloton, a climbing specialist, and she will hope to stay away for the rest of the Glandon, then Alpe D’Huez after bridging the gap to the two breaks. Of the leading group, Liane Lippert is the player who presents the greatest threat to GC. She began the day 1’ 47” off.

The latest on the TV debate, from Jeremy Whittle, our correspondent. “Yep: think it will about TV revenues against the costs of coverage. But then how do you grow the audience if you don’t show the race?”

63km to go: Alex gets in touch: “Even as a cycling sicko I understand why TV stations don’t want to show the opening kms of any stage/race. However, it would be nice if streaming services would offer us something to fiend on.”

So does Colin: “I would be interested in reasons for lack of coverage, in particular for Eurosport is it their choice? On the breakaway they almost seem embarrassed by it so it is hard to tell.”

The main given reasons is the cost of the outside broadcast. That this is Le Tour, the richest race in the whole sport, and that’s it 2024 and governing bodies really ought to know that it is within their remit – and duty – to push women’s sport is another argument. A surprisingly unpopular one, it seems, given some of the comments received for suggesting this needs to be addressed.

Movement in the field meanwhile: Ghekiere is 40 seconds off the leading break, and dropping back to the yellow jersey group. The polka jersey is to be defended, too, though she has a 15-point gap on Puck Pieterse. This race is really shaping up.

65km to go: And it’s live! There’s about 15km of the Glandon left and the break’s lead over the peloton is slowly dwindling. Just over a minute now. The next few clicks are when we expect Vollering to be slingshotted up the hill.

68km to go: The break is now reduced to 17 riders, as they begin the penultimate climb – the Col du Glandon – and the gap is down to 1’ 10 to the Niewiadoma group. It feels like the peloton will come together – in reduced form – on this climb but this race has been highly unpredictable all week. Perhaps the one thing we can expect is the chase of Vollering after those lost seconds. This could be her moment. Ghekiere has dropped out of virtual yellow, by the way.

87.3km to go: The breakaway set off on an intermediate sprint. Lorena Wiebes wins the intermediate sprint, ahead of Christine Majerus and Olivia Baril. There’s meanwhile been a couple of abandonments after a crash – Ilse Pluimers (AG Insurance-Soudal Team) and. Alison Avoine (St-Michel-Mavic-Auber93) left the race earlier. High drama indeed, but the race is not being shown in full. The Vuelta today missed the first quarter – but it’s only the second day, rather than the final stage. As our correspondent says, it will start broadcasting at 4pm France time, 3pm here. Questions to be answered – and asked, too.

Sprint points

• 1. Wiebes, 25 pts

• 2. Majerus, 20 pts

• 3. Barrel, 17 pts

• 4. Vas, 15 pts

• 5. Ruegg, 13 pts

• 6. Faulkner, 11 pts

• 7. Persico, 10 pts

• 8. Ghekiere, 9 pts

• 9. Lippert, 8 pts

• 10. Aalerude, 7 pts

• 11. Smulders, 6 pts

• 12. Markus, 5 pts

• 13. Brand, 4 pts

• 14. Van Empel, 3 pts

• 15. Adegeest, 2 pts

The green jersey is already set to be on Marianne Vos’s shoulders, barring problems in today’s stage.