FRENCH RIDER Maeva Squiban claimed a back-to-back double on the women’s Tour de France by winning the seventh stage today, a day after her first breakaway stage victory, while Ireland’s Fiona Mangan won the intermediate sprint.

The Limerick native, who becomes the first Irish rider to achieve this feat, claimed 25 points as a result, with Spain’s Yurani Blanco and American Ruth Edwards second and third, respectively.

Mangan also moves up to 30th in the overall ranking for the category.

Mangan also finished 66th in today’s stage, while fellow Irish riders Mia Griffin and Lara Gillespie were 99th and 123rd.

Griffin is now 92nd overall, with Mangan 99th and Gillespie 104th.

Mauritian Kim Le Court-Pienaar held on to the overall lead as the nine-day race heads into Saturday’s stage 8, the first of two Alpine runs taking in two ascents and finishing atop the Col de la Madeleine at 2000m.

The 23-year-old Squiban attacked from distance on the hilly 159.7km stage from Bourg-en-Bresse to Chambery in a carbon copy of her first stage win, while her compatriot Cedrine Kerbaol and American Ruth Edwards rounded out the podium.

Squiban broke away two kilometres from the summit of the Col du Granier, later claiming she had been joking when she went.

“I jokingly said I would attack at the start. In the end, it wasn’t a joke,” she said.

In the overall standings on the eve of the queen stage, the penultimate of this 2025 edition, Le Court has a 26-second lead over Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and a 30sec margin over defending champion Katarzyna Niewiadoma.

You can view the full rankings here.

– © AFP 2025

Written by AFP and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.