Kimberley Le Court Pienaar wins the 5th stage of the Tour de France Femmes with half a front wheel ahead and takes over the yellow jersey. There were four falls on the first 60 kilometers, so a total of six drivers had to stop the race later.
Anna van der Breggen initially attacked on the last kilometer. The 35-year-old could not get her swing. Le Court Pienaar used this situation for himself, only sat down in the slipstream of Van der Breggen and then went to the sprint early. The favorites from the top group went along.
Demi full ring, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney and Anna van der Breggen remained particularly close to Le Court Pienaar. It was just half a front wheel with which Le Court Pienaar came to the finish line.
Also Anna van der Breggen This stage could have won this stage from the team SD-WORX-Protime: The former sporting director of SD-WORX-Protimer can hold out long sprints. However, since she couldn’t really gain momentum on her first attempt, she had no chance and became third that day.
Top group with favorites
The top group with the favorites had found itself almost seven kilometers before the finish line. At that time, Demi full ring, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, Kimberley Le Court Pienaar, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Anna van der Breggen, Pauliena Rooijakkers and Sarah Gigante. The woman in the yellow jersey, Marianne Vos, had left the top group.
Marianne Vos couldn’t keep up in the end
Lorena Wiebes, who had won on both previous days, could no longer follow the main field over 24 kilometers before the finish line. At that time, the Fenix Deceuninck team tightened the pace on the mountain. Wiebes is the strongest sprinter of this Tour de France, but other drivers are much better on the mountain.
Happy too early?
At first there was still questionable for the TV viewers whether Le Court Pienaar had really won. It looked so short on the screens. When asked whether the Mauritierin was happy too early, she replied: “I think if you are on the bike and you turn around, you will see that you have the speed and that you are the first to exceed the finish line. I may have chased a little fear at home. But luckily I had the strongest step out of the group.”
Volling was very close to the 29-year-old and finished second. For the overall classification, this means that she just overtaken her strongest competitor from last year, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney. One second separates the two from third and fourth place in the overall classification.
| driver | team | Time |
|---|---|---|
Kim Le Court Pienaar | AG Insurance-Soudal Team | – |
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot | Team Visma-Lease A Bike | + 18 seconds |
Demi full ring | FDJ-Suez | + 23 seconds |
Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney | Canyon-Sram-zondarcryp | + 24 seconds |
Anna van der Breggen | Team SD-WORX-PROTIME | + 27 seconds |
A lot of movement in the field makes it difficult for outliers
There were many tests in the first hour of the race, but nobody was able to do it. As on the two previous days, the peloton peloton was high – at least until the first real mountains came.
At the fifth stage there was a lot of movement in the field
It was only after 56 kilometers that the Italian Francesca Barale was able to break away from the main field. Initially, the driver from the team Picnic-Postnl had 40 seconds ahead. Again and again drivers tried to catch up with her, the Anneke Dijkstra was the first to achieve four kilometers later.
Alison Jackson and Catalina Anais Soto, who had already driven 125 kilometers in the top group at the third stage, also opened Barale to the top driver. 15 kilometers later the Australian Brodie Chapman joined the top group. Other drivers kept trying it again and again, but were caught up again immediately.
4:30 minutes ahead
In the meantime, the quintet was 4:30 minutes before the peloton. So far, no outlier group has had that much lead in this issue of the Tour de France Femmes. The Movistar team did a strong speed work just 60 kilometers before the end to catch up with the outliers. As a result, the distance between the top group and the peloton gradually decreased.
The Chilean Catalina Anais Soto and Anneke Dijkstra fell back from the top group 35 kilometers before the finish line. From this point on it went to the first mountains of the central massif.
Peloton is causing more and more speed
The Fenix Deceuninck team tightened the pace about 25 kilometers before the finish. From here Lorena Wiebes could no longer keep up. The peloton broke slowly. More and more drivers fell out of the main field and joined the group around the green jersey, which Wiebes wore and can keep it the next day.
Lorena Wiebes retains the green jersey with 208 points
Drivers tried to attack again and again. In the meantime there was a new top quintet, which could not withstand the favorite attack a few kilometers later.
First fall early
The first fall was already in the neutralization phase. The next one after 22 kilometers. Was involved Katrine Aalerud From the UNO-X-Mobility team. The Norwegian champion of 2024 had to get out of the race after the fall. But that didn’t remain the only one.
After 35 kilometers there was a mass crash. Among other things, Wiebes, double stage winner of this tour edition, was one of the fallen. The strong sprinter was made by her teammates Blanka vas and Anna van der Breggen back to the field. At first, all the fallen drove on.
Gradually, however, more and more drivers got out of the race. The exit of the Italian Elisa Balsamo in particular is a setback for the Lidl Trek team. The 27-year-old is one of the most important drivers in the team. Monica Trinca Colonel (Team Liv-Alula-Jayco), Eugenia Bujak (Team Cofidis) and Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Team Uno-X-Mobility) also gave up after the mass fall.
Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner has to cancel the Tour de France Femmes
Also Kristen Faulknerthe Olympic champion from the USA, had to stop the race after the mass crash. For the 32-year-old it was a bitter edition of this year’s tour: she had crashed three times and trimmed.
The Driver field Smalls off
Drivers didn’t just have to leave the Tour de France Femmes because of the fall. More and more drivers are sick. Before the fifth stage on Wednesday, the Favoritin Niewiadoma team, Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka, decided to get out of the tour due to illness. The day before, the Danish champion Rebecca Koerner also announced that she was sick and therefore no longer participates.
Marlen Reusser was the first to get out on Saturday at the first stage due to illness. The two-time Giro winner and co-favorite Elisa Longo Borghini followed on Monday.
Outlook on the 6th stage
This stage was already demanding, but from now on it will be really steep: On Thursday, the drivers expect four mountain ratings, including one of the category one. Over 10.2 kilometers, the climb goes up to the Col du Béal at 1,390 meters of altitude. The route leads from Clermont Ferrand to Ambert through the central massif. The drivers have to master more than 2,400 meters of altitude to 123.7 kilometers.