Annemiek van Vleuten took the lead in the inaugural Tour de France Femmes with a dominant ride on stage seven.
Movistar rider Van Vleuten, who was eighth heading into the penultimate stage, went clear to beat Demi Vollering by three minutes 26 seconds, with Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig third.
That means the Dutch rider will take a lead of three minutes 14 seconds over Vollering into Sunday’s final stage.
Previous leader Marianne Vos finished more than 24 minutes after Van Vleuten.
Lorena Wiebes, who won stages one and five, abandoned early on.
The Dutch rider had been cleared to start the stage despite injuries sustained in a crash during stage six but left the race along with Italian Letizia Borghesi.
Van Vleuten and Vollering made a break with about 85km to go in the mountainous stage to Le Markstein Fellering, and the former made her decisive move with 62km left.
Van Vleuten had been unable to eat for two days earlier this week because of illness – and said that had made the victory even sweeter.
“It has been such a rollercoaster after being sick,” the 39-year-old told Eurosport. “So to win like this is unbelievable.
“I had to try because I had lost some time. My style is always attacking, not to wait. I wanted to make the big time gaps which meant going on the first climb.”
The race concludes with Sunday’s 123.5km route from Lure to La Super Planche des Belles Filles.
Stage seven results
1. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned/Movistar Team Women) 3hrs 47mins 2secs
2. Demi Vollering (Ned/Team SD Worx) +3mins 26secs
3. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den/FDJ Suez Futuroscope) +5mins 16secs
4. Juliette Labous (Fra/Team DSM) +5mins 18secs
5. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol/Canyon-Sram Racing) Same time
6. Silvia Persico (Ita/Valcar – Travel & Service) +6mins 56secs
7. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita/Trek Segafredo) Same time
8. Urska Zigart (Slo/Team BikeExchange) +7mins 23secs
9. Evita Muzic (Fra/ FDJ Suez Futuroscope) +8mins 27secs
10. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned/Canyon-Sram Racing) +10min 10secs
General classification
1. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned/Movistar Team Women) 23hrs 18mins 31secs
2. Demi Vollering (Ned/Team SD Worx) +3min 14secs
3. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol/Canyon-Sram Racing) +4min 33secs
4. Juliette Labous (Fra/Team DSM) +5mins 22secs
5. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den/FDJ Suez Futuroscope) +5mins 59secs
6. Silvia Persico (Ita/Valcar – Travel & Service) +6mins 11secs
7. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita/Trek Segafredo) +6mins 15secs
8. Evita Muzic (Fra/ FDJ Suez Futuroscope) +10mins 13secs
9. Margarita Victoria Garcia Canellas (Spa/UAE Team ADQ) +12mins 6secs
10. Elise Chabbey (Sui/Canyon-Sram Racing) +12mins 24secs
