Dutch cyclist Lorena Wiebes celebrated her second victory of the day in the women’s Tour de France.
The 23-year-old from Team DSM came out on top in the mass sprint on the fifth stage after a largely flat 176 kilometers from Bar-le-Duc to Saint-Dié-des-Vosges. Wiebes had already won the opening stage on July 24th in Paris.
Italy’s Elisa Balsamo finished second, followed by Marianne Vos from the Netherlands, who thus defended the yellow jersey of the overall leaders. The three-time road world champion and 2012 Olympic champion is 20 seconds ahead of Italy’s Silvia Persico and Poland’s Katarzyna Niewiadoma. German riders could not intervene in the decision. German champion Liane Lippert is still 13th overall, 3:19 minutes behind Vos.
The breakaways Victoire Berteau from France and Antri Christoforou from Cyprus could hope for the day’s victory on the longest stage with almost three kilometers to go. Then the field with all the favorites closed up. About 50 kilometers from the finish there was a mass crash involving many riders.
The sixth stage on Friday leads over 126 kilometers from Saint-Dié-des-Vosges in the Vosges to Rosheim.