Kim Le Court Pienaar became the first African to win a stage at the Tour de France Femmes with a late push on Wednesday, reclaiming the yellow jersey on stage five’s 165.8 km ride from Jaunay-Marigny to Gueret.
Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal), who led the general classification after stage two but was overtaken by Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), won a breakneck downhill push to the finish, edging 2023 champion and overall race favourite Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) on the line.
“We came in with a clear plan, first to stay safe... it was difficult because it was flat and fast, a lot of big crashes... then try for the victory,” Le Court, the Mauritian national champion, said.
The 29-year-old sat up to celebrate before crossing the line and only narrowly finished ahead of a still-accelerating Vollering, whose bike throw wasn’t enough to pip Le Court.
She added: “When you’re on the bike you can see you have the speed, and you’ll cross the line first. Maybe I gave a bit of a fright to people watching at home … Luckily for me, I had enough [of a] gap.”
The fifth stage, the longest in the Tour this year, went through relatively flat terrain before three climbs in the final 35km and saw several failed breakaway attempts as the peloton covered 46.5 km in the first hour despite multiple crashes.
Points jersey holder Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) recovered from a crash to rejoin the peloton and contest the minor places at the intermediate sprint, which was won by Alison Jackson from the breakaway. But the Dutchwoman struggled to keep up after the first climb, ultimately finishing 58th.
American Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly) abandoned the race after her third crash in three days. Maria Giulia Confalonieri, Elisa Balsamo and Monica Trinca Colonel also quit the race, continuing an exodus of big names after Tour de Suisse champion Marlen Reusser and Giro d’Italia winner Elisa Longo Borghini abandoned earlier in the week.
A thinned-down group of yellow jersey contenders caught the final breakaway stragglers on the day’s final climb, Le Maupuy, inside the last 10km, and attacked to eke out a 30-second gap on the peloton, with Vos unable to go with them.
The seven-strong group - including last year’s entire podium - would not be caught and ultimately sprinted for the stage honours in Gueret.
Paris-Roubaix Femmes champion Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Visma-Lease a Bike) moved up to second, sitting 18 seconds behind Le Court in the general classification, while Vollering rose to third, 23 seconds down. Vollering’s performance indicated that despite a nasty crash on stage three - which had threatened to put her out of the race entirely - she remains a serious contender for the yellow jersey once again.
Last year’s champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney sits fourth at 24 seconds back, setting up a tight battle for yellow in the upcoming mountain stages, which will decide the race. Saturday’s ‘queen stage’, from Chambery to a summit finish atop the Col de la Madeleine, features 3,520m of climbing.
The Tour continues on Thursday with a mountainous 123.7km ride from Clermont-Ferrand to Ambert.
Additional reporting from Reuters
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