After a pair of sprint stages the last two days, stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift was a warm-up for the GC battle to come.
An elite group with yellow-jersey ambitions broke free on the final ascent of the day, the third category Le Maupuy. Kim Le Court, Demi Vollering, Anna van der Breggen, Kasia Niewiadoma, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Sarah Gigante, and Pauline Rooijakkers distanced the rest and battled it out amongst themselves, setting up a sprint finish of the race’s biggest names.
Van der Breggen tried her luck with a far move with over 600 meters to go, but couldn’t slingshot past the bunch and had to reset.
Ultimately it was Le Court, already the wearer of the yellow jersey in this year’s edition, who led the sprint and held on, even as Vollering closed in at the line, making it appear that Le Court may have celebrated too early. But luckily the win was hers.
Le Court takes back the yellow jersey with an 18 second advantage overall to Ferrand-Prévot. Eight riders sit within a minute overall, setting up a tight battle for the final four stages.
Unfortunately, this year’s race continued to shed big names as both Kristen Faulkner and Elisa Balsamo packed it in on stage 5.
Tomorrow, the GC contenders will battle it out in the first mountain stage of the Tour.