In the final stage of the French stage race, the riders faced five categorised climbs. De Vries, who took the lead in the classification on Saturday after an impressive team performance, defended a 30-second lead over her closest rival Trinca Colonel. However, the Italian did not give up and attacked on the steep final climb.  

Bunel and De Vries did everything they could to keep the gap as small as possible, but were unable to prevent the Liv AlUla Jayco rider from pulling away by a minute. De Vries and Bunel eventually crossed the finish line in fourth and fifth place, securing second and fourth place in the overall classification. 

"I'm disappointed I didn't manage to win, especially after yesterday's masterclass", De Vries said. "I went into this stage feeling very confident. I had a nice thirty-second lead and actually expected to be able to stay with her (Trinca Colonel). On the climb, she rode so fast that I had to let her go. I rode well myself, but she was just stronger today."

According to De Vries, the team can look back on a ‘superb week’. "We rode really well, especially the last two days. I was impressed by how everyone committed to the plan. I had the confidence of the whole team and everyone said: you can really win this. I believed it too, but unfortunately it wasn't meant to be today."

Sports director Jos van Emden says De Vries can be proud of her performance. "Of course we would have liked to win the classification, but Trinca Colonel was clearly the best today. Femke can be very satisfied with what she has shown this week. She has taken a big step forward and will now realise that she can also win races."

With Bunel's stage victory, the win in the youth classification and second place in the overall classification, Team Visma | Lease a Bike is returning home in good spirits. "It was a good week for us. Of course, some things went wrong, but if you look purely at the results, we can certainly be satisfied", concludes Van Emden.