Water ran down the mountain. On Saturday, August 2, a fine but persistent rain beat down on the rocks, seeped between the fir trees and swept down the soaked slopes of the Col de la Madeleine, a mountain in France’s Alpine south-east, as if the sky refused to grant a reprieve. Amid the gray humidity, the landscape seemed almost surreal: swathes of mist clung to hairpin bends, peaks lay shrouded and the grass was saturated with water. “The weather was beautiful all week,” said Dominique, a man in his 50s from the village of Saint-Pierre-d’Albigny, located about 50 kilometers away. “The conditions are terrible, but I brought the whole family and the cooler. The road wasn’t easy because the surface was slippery.”
Just like Dominique and his family, many spectators had braved the elements. They raised their umbrellas like colorful banners amid the gray day, donned garish raincoats and threw makeshift tarps over the embankments. Amid the gusts and the puddles, the excitement held firm, as the crowd was determined to cheer on the riders in the eighth stage of the 2025 Tour de France Femmes, which ran from the city of Chambéry to the formidable Col de la Madeleine (18.6 km at 8.1%) and saw France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (of the Visma-Lease a Bike team) claim victory. “I came from the Basque Country to support the riders,” said Jorice, 25 – who, like the other people interviewed, did not wish to share his last name.
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