Racing
Tour de France Femmes Daily | Stage 4 | Cédrine Kerbaol Finishes Strong
Cédrine Kerbaol stays safe at the front of the pack
July 29, 2025
Cédrine Kerbaol led her EF Education-Oatly teammates over the finish line in Poitiers to close a fast and chaotic fourth stage of the Tour de France Femmes.
Our French GC captain made sure she was ahead of any splits in the peloton by mixing it up with the sprinters. She ended the stage 15th in the bunch kick.
Cédrine remains within striking distance in the race for the yellow jersey. Just 39 seconds back on G.C., she is looking forward to competing on hillier terrain. The first four stages of the Tour de France Femmes have been hectic.
Strong winds were blowing across the fields of western France, so a very nervous peloton rolled out of Saumur this afternoon. The whole 130 kilometers of the stage were a fight for position, as the pack surged towards Poitiers. With no real slopes to stretch out the race, everyone wanted to be at the front in case crosswinds broke the peloton. They knew they had to take risks to be there.
In the final kilometers, Kristen Faulkner went down in an unfortunate crash, but managed to jump straight back onto her bike with no injuries except a few scrapes and bruises.
Noemi Rüegg and Cédrine made brave moves to get to the front, but didn’t find space to really open their sprints.
Tomorrow’s fifth stage from Chasseneuil-du-Poitou to Guéret suits them better, with a late-race kicker leading into a screaming fast descent to the line.
Read our riders' thoughts from the finish line of stage 4 of the Tour de France Femmes.
Henrietta Christie
My job was to do a lead out from five kilometers to two point five kilometers but I couldn’t get there in time so I got there at the base of the climb so then I took Noemi and moved her up and then she jumped on SD Worx and that was my day done.
Today was really fast. The team got a little bit caught out in the winds so we had to chase a little bit but it was all fine in the end. Everyday is hard. It’s the highest level of women’s sports and it’s now the longest race it’s been since it came back so it’s brutal out there. But fun. We love it.
Noemi Rüegg
It was fast. It passed really, really quickly compared to yesterday. It was quite a quick day, quite fast and a lot of positioning but I think we did well. We were at one point in a bad position with the echelons but we figured our way out and did some good teamwork to get back into the race. Then it was all about the final, being in good position. Henri did an amazing job positioning me and then I kind of tried to find my own way. Cédrine tried to help as well but in the end I was a bit boxed in. I couldn’t really find a way out so I came up a bit short. That’s it. We tried and we still have many opportunities to come.
The easy days are over now. I think it’s only gets harder with a lot of climbs but we’re really excited. I think we have a really strong team. We stick together really well. We work together well and I think we can do a great job to support Cédrine climbing her best and then do the best GC possible.