Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, one of the overall Tour de France Femmes favourites, has consistently finished among the top 10 on the hillier opening stages. While the battle for the GC ignited during the stage 5 final into Guéret, the Visma-Lease a Bike contender said the roads were a little "too punchy" for her style.
The Frenchwoman made it into the selection of seven riders that formed on the Maupuy climb, and finished in fifth on the day, moving up to second overall, now 18 seconds behind the day's winner and yellow jersey wearer Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal).
"It was very punchy, maybe a little too much for me at the moment. I'm happy to finish in the first group; Marianne [Vos] was not far from passing. In the end, it was a good day for us; we didn't lose any time for the general classification," she said in a post-race interview with Eurosport.
Ferrand-Prévot's teammate Marianne Vos started the day in the overall race lead but was not able to follow the pace of the seven-rider selection in the final. She tried to close the gap to the group, but ended up crossing the line 33 seconds behind Le Court and so lost the yellow jersey.
"I tried to follow, but it just didn't work out. That doesn't surprise me at all. I found myself in the second group, and that was fine in itself. The goal hasn't changed," Vos told Sporza.
Vos has had an exceptional start to the nine-day race, winning the opening stage into Plumelec, finishing second place on stages into Angers and Poitiers, and wearing the yellow jersey for four stages.
Visma-Lease a Bike came into the Tour de France Femmes to support Ferrand-Prévot for the title, and so Vos explained that she was pleased to see her teammate stay with the leaders and move up in the overall classification.
"In the end, it was just a really good team race. I'm glad Pauline was up front. In that respect, it was a great day," Vos said.
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