🇫🇷 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift
⛰ Stage 5: Mâcon - Belleville-en-Beaujolais (140 km)
An action-packed stage right from the opening kilometers, with no breakaway able to establish itself on the Côte de Cenves. Attacks continued relentlessly on the technical descent that followed. It wasn't until the approach to the Col de Gerbet that a lasting break was formed, featuring a group of roughly 20 riders including Pieterse, Vallieres, Niedermaier, Włodarczyk, Squiban, Fisher-Black, Koch, Rüegg, Berthet, and Lippert.
The yellow jersey group never allowed the breakaway more than a two-minute buffer, with Movistar and especially FDJ keeping the gap firmly under control. The race ignited on the Col de Durbize as Gery set a ferocious tempo for Vollering. Once Gery pulled off, Vollering launched her first attack, putting van der Breggen, Le Court, Longo Borghini, and Ferrand-Prévot in difficulty. Up front, around 10 riders remained from the original break, but on the descent, Koch bridged the gap.
On the run-in to the final QOM at Mont Brouilly, Koch and Lippert took turns setting the pace right up to the foot of the climb, where Vollering launched her first move. However, the decisive blow came inside the final 800 meters, when a series of blistering accelerations dropped every rival except Niewiadoma and Reusser!
The stage win came down to a three-way showdown. The Polish rider opened her sprint early with 350 meters to go, initially catching the other two off guard. But in the final 50 meters, Vollering surged past to claim the stage victory! Reusser finished second, safely defending her yellow jersey.
👕 JERSEYS:
🟡 GC: 🇨🇭 M. Reusser (MOV)
🟢 Pts: 🇳🇱 L. Wiebes (SDW)
🔴 QOM: 🇳🇱 P. Pieterse (FPC)
⚪️ Young: 🇩🇪 A. Niedermaier (CSR)
🟥 Comb: 🇳🇱 D. Vollering (TFS)