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Ricarda Bauernfeind raced to a superb solo victory on stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift on Friday, riding the last 35km to the line in Albi and finishing well clear of the rest.
The Canyon-SRAM rider launched her move prior to the day’s bonus sprint, initially being joined by Claire Steels (Israel Premier Tech Roland) but then dropping the Briton.
She put in a superb effort to eke out a gap of more than a minute and a half, and stayed strong all the way to the finish.
“To be honest I still can’t believe it. It is just incredible,” she said with a smile.
In addition to making her the youngest-winner of a stage in the Tour de France Femmes, it was also the first-ever stage win for her team in the race.
“I had the support from my teammates, from the car behind. Everyone helped me and supported us,” the 23-year-old said. “It was just an incredible team ride, I would say. We had to chase the first group because we missed it. My teammates did such a fantastic job. Then it was up to me and I tried to attack. It worked out.”
Marlen Reusser (SD Worx-ProTime) had dragged the group along to reduce the gap to under 40 seconds, and then pushed ahead with Liane Lippert (Movistar Team). However Reusser declined to help the German champion, instead outsprinting her for second, 22 seconds back.
Race leader Lotte Kopecky led in the chasing group a further 10 seconds later. She remains at the top of the general classification, 49 seconds clear of Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (AG Insurance – Soudal QuickStep), who moved up one place.
“I think I was the reason why nobody wanted to chase,” she said after the stage. “It’s a missed opportunity but I can’t ask Demi [Vollering] to start pulling the bunch. In the end, the general classification is the most important thing, we don’t want to waste energy we will need later on. And it’s also nice that the women who attack also get a reward.”
The rider who had been in second, Demi Vollering (SD Worx-ProTime) was handed a 20 second time penalty for drafting behind her team car earlier in the stage. She slipped to seventh overall, the penalty more than wiping out the eight seconds she had gained over Annemiek van Vleuten one day earlier.
The undulating stage had been predicted by some to end in a bunch sprint. That didn’t deter an 11-rider group going clear early on, and didn’t deter Bauernfeind from launching her own move towards the end.
How it played out:
Stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes lacked the tough terrain of Wednesday’s race and was initially billed as one that could suit the sprinters. Starting in Onet-le-Châteaux and racing to Albi, the 126.1km route covered undulating group, with three categorized climbs in the second half.
The cat. 2 Côte de Najac (km. 74.9) and Côte de Laguépie (km. 85.2) would be followed by a bonus sprint on an unclassified climb at Castelfadèze (km. 91.3).
That in turn would be followed 8.5km later by a separate intermediate sprint, then the cat. 4 Côte de Monestiés. This would top out 24km from the finish, with the roads either flat or downhill in that final portion of the race.
Stage 3 winner Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-ProTime) was one of the favorites if things did come down to a sprint, but she withdrew before the stage start with stomach issues.
Jenny Rissveds (Coop-Hitec Products) and Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X) were also non-starters, while Eva Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ), Kaja Rysz (Lifeplus Wahoo) and Gabrielle Pilote Fortin (Cofidis) would withdraw during the stage. It was unclear if some of those had the same illness as Wiebes.
After approximately 20 minutes of racing 11 riders got clear. Loes Adegeest (FDJ-SUEZ), Olivia Baril (UAE ADQ), Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx), Clara Emond (Arkéa), Justine Ghekiere (AG insurance-Soudal QuickStep), Amber Kraak (Jumbo-Visma), Clara Koppenburg (Cofidis), Hannah Ludwig (Uno-X), Paula Patiño (Movistar), Claire Steels (Israel-Premier Tech Roland) and Ella Wyllie (Lifeplus Wahoo) combined to get 45 seconds.
While Ceratizit-WNT chased for quite some time, they were unable to bring it back and the gap went out further. However the move was reeled in on the first of those three categorized climbs, with the peloton riding more aggressively than had been anticipated before the race.
Wednesday’s stage 4 winner Yana Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) took the points on the top of that climb and on the subsequent Côte de Laguépie, moving back into the lead of the mountains classification.
A strong solo move launches
The pace and rolling terrain had whittled down the lead group to just 19 riders, making the stage far more selective than had been predicted. One of those in there, Marta Cavalli (FDJ SUEZ), had been delayed before the summit when she drifted off the road into the dirt and had to get a new wheel soon after.
Richarda Bauernfeind (Canyon-SRAM) and Claire Steels (Israel Premier Tech Roland) pushed ahead of the group on the bonus climb, with the former dropping the latter before the prime line. Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (AG Insurance – Soudal QuickStep) won the sprint for third, taking a two-second bonus.
Bauernfeind was riding very well and raced through the intermediate sprint 1:19 before Kopecky, who was unchallenged in taking second place. The lone leader thundered onwards and crested the cat. 4 climb 1:35 clear. She had 24km from that point and knew she needed to fend off any chase behind.
Kastelijn took the points again on that climb, further extending her mountains lead. The attacks started firing off immediately after that, stretching things out. Marlen Reusser (SD Worx-ProTime) then set about dragging the gap down and with 10km to go, had reduced it to 38 seconds. However Bauernfeind was riding very strongly and still had practically the same margin with 5km left.
Reusser had done all of the work and decided not to keep dragging the peloton behind her. She clipped away and was joined by Liane Lippert (Movistar Team), with the two working to try to get up to the leader. However she still had 26 seconds with 3km to go and was aided by Reusser’s decision not to help Lippert chase.
Bauernfeind raced in for victory, hand over her mouth in disbelief. Reusser outsprinted Lippert for second place, with Kopecky leading in the peloton soon afterwards and retaining yellow.