An exciting and attractive finale produced the first bigger gaps in the Tour de France Femmes: Mauritian Kim Le Court won the sprint from a favorite group of seven riders, with Demi Vollering, Anna van der Breggen, and Pauliena Rooijakkers also making a strong impression.
A typical transition stage, that’s how almost all teams classified the fifth stage of the Tour de France Femmes in advance. After two consecutive wins, it was not really timely for SD Worx-Protime to take control. According to the Dutch squad, it was up to the other teams to take the initiative.
Day of reckoning in the opening phase
But before that could happen, the opening phase of the 165-kilometer stage from Futuroscope to Guéret was marred by numerous crashes. Green jersey holder Lorena Wiebes was involved in one of these crashes, but the sprinter of SD Worx Pro Cycling was able to continue. Her teammates neatly brought her back to the group.
Former world champion Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) was less lucky. Like five others, she had to abandon the race. A little later in the stage, Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly) also withdrew. The American rider had been involved in crashes in previous days and even went down again during the neutralization.
The leading quartet with Alison Jackson - photo: Cor Vos
The first hour of racing flew by at an average speed of nearly 45 kilometers per hour. Visma | Lease a Bike regularly took control. It would take almost 60 kilometers before they allowed a small group some room. This group formed in several phases: Italian Francesca Barale (Picnic PostNL) ignited the fire and was quickly joined by Anneke Dijkstra (VolkerWessels). Alison Jackson (EF Education-Oatly) and Catalina Soto (Laboral Kutxa-Euskadi) were also interested in attacking.
Dropping Wiebes works like a red rag to a bull
Finally, Australian Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ) joined the breakaway. None of them posed a threat in the GC, so the leaders were quickly allowed to ride four and a half minutes ahead. Behind them, Movistar took control but without cutting much of the gap. Halfway through the stage, Wiebes comfortably collected extra points for the green jersey, right under Marianne Vos’s nose. It didn’t cost her much energy.
Approaching the opening climbs of the finale, the Côte de Chabannes and Côte du Peyroux, the gap with the escapees significantly shrank. The peloton kept quiet over the first climb, but under the impetus of Fenix-Deceuninck, the large group was thinned out drastically on the second climb. Lorena Wiebes had to suffer as well. Initially, her teammate Lotte Kopecky admirably tried to limit the damage for the green jersey, but approaching the top the gap stretched to around a minute. The end of the story!
Dropping Wiebes acted as a red rag to a bull for the other teams, so AG Insurance Soudal also stepped up the pace. The peloton was thinned down to barely thirty riders. Up front, Chapman had meanwhile made her getaway, but due to the high pace in the peloton, her attempt was short-lived. With about twenty kilometers to go, her effort was over.
The pace was high in the finale - photo: Cor Vos
Heading towards the challenging final climb to Le Maupay, the race intensified. Among others, Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek) and Silke Smulders (Liv Jayco AlUla) tried to break away, but Canyon//SRAM Racing put everything on their leader Kasia Niewiadoma.
Grueling final climb
On the final climb, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma | Lease a Bike) was the first to really push the pace, but near the top, she was overtaken by Kim Le Court (AG Insurance Soudal), who had sensed the bonus seconds and the yellow jersey.
Towards the summit, she put teammate Sarah Gigante in front, who thinned the group down to seven. Besides Le Court and Ferrand-Prévot, only Demi Vollering (FDJ-SUEZ), Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck), and Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx Pro Cycling) tagged on. Notably absent was Puck Pieterse.
Close to the top, Vollering briefly took the lead, later followed by Van der Breggen, but it quickly became clear that the seven would fight for the stage win. A chasing group with yellow jersey Marianne Vos was half a minute behind. Gigante kept the tempo high for Le Court and snuffed out a new attack from Van der Breggen, setting up a sprint finish.
Le Court timed her effort perfectly in that sprint. The rider from Mauritius executed her effort flawlessly—just like in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. It earned her not only the stage victory, but also a new yellow jersey. Vollering came very close, but Le Court had enough left in the tank.
Tour de France Femmes| Rank | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 03:54:07 | |
| 2 | " | |
| 3 | " | |
| 4 | " | |
| 5 | " | |
| 6 | " | |
| 7 | " | |
| 8 | + 33 | |
| 9 | " | |
| 10 | " |
