Kim Le Court won stage five of the Tour de France Femmes, becoming the first African rider to win a stage of the race. The Mauritian also took the yellow jersey from Marianne Vos, who lost time on her rivals after getting dropped by a breakaway.
That’s the lot from me, both for today, and for the rest of the race. Thanks for reading and for emailing in and enjoy the remaining stages. It’s been fun. Goodbye!
Updated
Julie Bego (Cofidis) leads the best young rider/white jersey competition. Nienke Vinke [Picnic PostNL] is second, 22sec down, Titia Ryo (Arkéa/B&B Hotels) is third, 10min 15sec behind.
Updated
KOM classification - top five
1) Chabbey 11pts
2) Smulders 6pts
3) Chapman 4pts
4) Van der Breggen 3pts
5) Garcia 2pts
The real climbing points start tomorrow, of course.
Points classification: top 10 after stage five
1) Wiebes 208pts
2) Vos 178pts
3) Le Court 103pts
4) Vollering 84pts
5) Koch 70pts
6) Van der Breggen 70pts
7) Niewiadoma-Phinney 66pts
8) Jansen 54pts
9) Jackson 50pts
10) Ferrand-Prévot 50pts
Updated
In the end, the green jersey-wearer Wiebes lost 9min 04sec after being dropped during the late climbs.
Updated
A big sort-out in GC, then. Le Court retakes yellow and leads overall by 18sec from Ferrand-Prévot. Ferrand-Prévot keeps saying how good she feels on the climbs, though, so she will be very confident of making that time up, and more, in the mountains. And then of course Demi Vollering, 23sec down, is a huge threat along with fourth-placed Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, the reigning champion, who is 24sec behind the leader. With four stages remaining the overall winner will surely be among those four riders.
Vollering has recovered well after that heavy crash on Monday, too, so it’s all to play for. Vos drops to sixth overall having lost 33sec today.
Updated
Top 10 GC after stage five
1) Kim Le Court 15hr 07min 14sec
2) Pauline Ferrand-Prévot +18sec
3) Demi Vollering +23sec
4) Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney +24sec
5) Anna van der Breggen _27sec
6) Marianne Vos +37sec
7) Pauliena Rooijakkers +45sec
8) Sarah Gigante +55sec
9) Puck Pieterse +1min 04sec
10) Cedrine Kerbaol +1min 16sec
Updated
“It was very punchy,” says Pauline Ferrand-Prevot of Visma-Lease A Bike, one of the main GC contenders. “Maybe a bit too much for me. I was happy to finish at the front. In the end it’s a pretty good day for us. We didn’t lose time on GC, so it’s perfect. I am feeling good uphill. I am looking forward to the uphill stages.
“It’s great [leading the team]. We have a good time together. It’s good to be with a team who really commit to this GC goal. We will go as far as we can.”
Updated
“I’m so proud of Kim, but the whole team,” says Dani Christmas, the AG Insurance–Soudal DS, who is also a pundit with TNT Sports. “We have a whole staff, working day and night, to make this possible.
“Sarah Gigante did an incredible ride today. My respect for Sarah goes up and up and up when I see her race … but it’s all the riders, every watt of energy that the leaders can save, they can use it when it really matters. And they can only do that with the support of the whole team. We have to tip our hats to them.”
Top 10 on stage five
1) Kim Le Court 3hr 54min 07sec
2) Demi Vollering (same time)
3) Anna Van der Breggen
4) Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney
5) Pauline Ferrand-Prevot
6) Sarah Gigante
7) Pauliena Rooijakers
8) Mariane Vos +33sec
9) Évita Muzic +33sec
10) Elise Chabbey +33sec
Updated
The first African to win a TdF Femmes stage, Kim Le Court, speaks.
“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 the big goal was to take the bonus sprint, which I managed to do, then try for the victory … it was difficult in the finish, I went around the [final] corner in front and it was a bit further than I expected, but my kick was the best in the group.
“I couldn’t have done it without a teammate [Sarah Gigante]. Teamwork is what you need in the sport.”
Did she celebrate too early? “No, I don’t think so. 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 gap.”
Updated
Key event
Vos, the outgoing race leader, sprinted in 33sec down and finished eighth.
Le Court did indeed win it, by about the length of half a bike wheel, but that looked like an unnecessary risk to sit up with Vollering still sprinting! She will be in yellow, which is huge for African cycling.
Updated
Le Court wins stage five
She sat up to celebrate, and took a big risk, but I think the Mauritian rider got it … Vollering was coming up very fast, and finishes second. Van der Breggen third.
Updated
600m to go: Van der Breggen squeezes through on the left and attacks.
1km to go: The road kicks up slightly as the front group of seven enters the final 1,000m.
1.5km to go: So it’s Le Court, Ferrand-Prevot, Niewiadoma-Phinney, Vollering, Van der Breggen, Rooijakkers and Gigante. One of those will win the stage.
Updated
2km to go: Up front, there seems to be a bit of hesitation. Vos, in the second group with nine riders, is working hard but the gap is still 28sec.
3km to go: Wiebes is going to lose a whopping 6min 30sec as it stands!
4km to go: Niewiadoma-Phinney is pushing on the descent, at the head of the race.
Vos is struggling to make any of this time up, such is the hot pace being set by the front group.
Updated
5km to go: Van der Breggen, Le Court and Niewiadoma-Phinney was the one-two-three on that final climb, Le Maupuy.
6km to go: Now it’s a flat-out sprint downhill to the finish. Can Vos, the supreme bike handler, make up the time on the descent? She has half a minute to make up …
Updated
7.5km to go: A front group of seven powers up the climb. Le Court, Ferrand-Prevot, Niewiadoma-Phinney, Vollering, Van der Breggen, Rooijakkers and Gigante are there.
One of those riders will win, surely, after they hit the top of the climb first.
Back down the hill, Vos is trying desperately to get back in touch.
Updated
8km to go: In the virtual GC, Le Court is now 2sec behind Vos.
8.5km to go: Le Court takes the 6sec bonus! That was a big sprint. Ferrand-Prevot second (4sec), Niewiadoma-Phinney third (2sec).
9km to go: The bonus point, or bonification point as I prefer to call it, is coming up.
9.5km to go: Squiban is about to be caught. We’re on the final climb, Le Maupuy. It’s 2.8km long, with an average gradient of 5.4%.
10km to go: The chase is on from behind with Canyon/Sram taking it up. Squiban is now out front on her own, but realistically her days look numbered.
Updated
10.5km to go: Just 5sec for the break now.
11km to go: “Riders are getting dropped all the time,” says Slappendel on the TNT bike. “And the course favours the breakaway, it’s super-technical.”
11km to go: The five up front are: Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ), Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek), Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco), Dilyxine Miermont (CERATIZIT Pro Cycling Team) and Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ).
Updated
13km to go: It’s all happening. Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco) stamps on the pedals and tries to distance her four breakaway companions … the gap grows slightly to 15sec as a result.
Updated
14.5km to go: Vos attacks from the main bunch! The five escapees have 12sec.
Updated
15km to go: More attacks off the front. Plenty of riders are interested in getting in on this breakaway if they can. But the five up front still have 11sec.
Wiebes has dropped to 1min 23sec behind the main bunch.
16km to go: And it’s now five up front: Chapman, Miermont, Squiban, Smulders and Van Anrooij. They have 12sec. Can they work together to keep the chasing peloton at bay?
Updated
16km to go: Now, Smulders and Squiban join Chapman on the front.
18km to go: Who, in the main bunch, has been harbouring the idea of a late attack for the stage? Here is the answer: Eline Jansen (Volkerwessels) has powered off the front of the yellow jersey group.
Wiebes is still 39sec down. We can safely say that any slim hope she may have had of a stage win is gone. But she was never likely to stay in touch with the fastest riders on these climbs, anyway.
Updated
19km to go: Wiebes is still in trouble, 47sec down on the bunch now.
Chapman (UAE Team ADQ) is fighting, up front, and has 11sec. She took 2pts on the last climb.
Updated
21km to go: Chapman is speeding down the descent. There is a flattish 10km or so before the final climb (Le Maupuy). Then, to finish the stage, there is a downhill section, which could spice things up further.
23km to go: Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) has dropped back to assist Wiebes, who has been put into major difficulty on this second categorised climb by the injection of pace up front.
Up front, Chapman crests the climb of the Côte du Peyroux, but her days look numbered. The yellow jersey group is just 16sec down now.
Updated
23.5km to go: Fenix–Deceuninck are the ones doing much of the work on the front of the bunch now. Mind you Movistar and Canyon/Sram are visible at the front, too.
Updated
24km to go: Yara Kastelijn (Fenix–Deceuninck) is putting in a massive turn on the front of the bunch, up the Côte du Peyroux, and that bunch is splintering as a result.
Suddenly the gap between break and bunch is 32sec.
Updated
25km to go: Jackson has cracked! Barale rides on ahead of her … but the new race leader is Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ), who has ridden off alone.
28km to go: After today, there are three mountain stages, and one hilly stage. The biggest day of climbing is on Saturday – Chambery to the Col de la Madeleine – that packs in 3,520m of vertical ascent.
30km to go: “Truly, the Tour de France starts tomorrow for the GC, and everyone wants to save energy,” says Iris Slappendel. (This was apparently something said by the Movistar DS, who said they are keen for a stage win, but that the GC is the ultimate aim.) Slappendel said that AG-Insurance were helping Movistar with the chase for a while there while Visma-Lease A Bike were not quite so keen to get involved.
Updated
31km to go: Do you think this break can stay away? They are looking strong, and the peloton may struggle to get the chase organised on the upcoming climbs.
33.5km to go: Three riders up front now: Barale, Jackson, Chapman. Dijkstra and Soto dropped. The gap to the yellow jersey group is 1min 46sec.
Six distinct groups on the road, including Kristyna Burlova at the back, who is still trying to get back in touch with the peloton.
Updated
34km to go: The gap between bunch and break is now 1min 51sec. Visma-Lease A Bike now seem to be the team doing most of the pulling on the front.
35km to go: The five-rider break is about to hit the first KOM point, atop the small climb of the Côte de Chabannes. Chapman takes 2pts, Barale 1pt in the KOM competition.
Updated
Intermediate sprint result: top 10
1) Jackson 25pts
2) Barale 20pts
3) Soto Campos 17pts
4) Chapman 15pts
5) Dijkstra (13pts)
6) Wiebes (11pts)
7) Vos (10pts)
8) Kastelijn (9pts)
9) Dygert (8pts)
10 Le Court (7pts)
Wiebes and Vos were the only ones who sprinted from the peloton. Vos looked happy enough to let Wiebes take sixth. What is one green jersey point between rivals?
Updated
38km to go: Wiebes sprints! Vos follows …
38.5km to go: Alison Jackson takes maximum points at the sprint.
Wiebes, Vos and Koch are all prominent at the front of the bunch as they now approach the sprint point.
Updated
39km to go: Here comes the intermediate sprint at Dun-le-Palestel.
40km to go: “I think it will be hard for the break to make it to the finish,” says Iris Slappendel on the TNT Sports motorbike. “Some teams, especially Movistar, don’t want to give them too much space. Liane Lippert is not a GC rider, but she is the kind of rider really suited for this kind of finale. The GC riders will also come into play … not everyone is interested in controlling, some teams are “playing poker” …”
Updated
41km to go: The peloton makes yet more inroads. The gap is down to 2min.
The sprint is coming up in under 3km.
Updated
45km to go: Brodie Chapman puts in a turn at the front. Then Anneke Dijkstra takes it up again. Unfortunately for them, despite their efforts, the gap is still falling. It’s down to 2min 40sec now.
Meanwhile, Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease A Bike) is still trying to get back into the bunch following that crash earlier. She’s currently among the team cars, while Kristyna Burlova (Ceratizit) is even further back, 5min 50sec behind the front of the race.
Updated
47km to go: The peloton speeds through the town of Saint-Germain-Beaupré. Any famous inhabitants? Not according to Wiki.
49km to go: A mere 10km to the intermediate sprint. After that the riders will almost immediately hit the first climb, the Côte de Chabannes.
52km to go: Still, it is Movistar Team driving the peloton. They are doing a good job too because the gap to the break has fallen to 3min. Liane Lippert will have designs on the stage win today.
Movistar have lost Marlen Reusser, who packed it in a couple of days ago, while Ana Magalhães was in the break yesterday, but still they are looking very strong.
Updated
54km to go: Alison Jackson (EF Education-Oatly), one of the escapees, won Paris-Roubaix Femmes in 2023. She also won a stage of the Vuelta España Femenina last season.
Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ), meanwhile, won the Race Torquay in 2020. Slightly less prestigious than Paris-Roubaix, but a win is a win.
Updated
56km to go: The gap is down to 3min 31 sec. Clearly, the likes of Movistar are not willing to let this gap get out of control.
59km to go: It seems certain that these five riders will mop up the major points at the intermediate sprint, with 39km remaining. The sixth rider over the line will win 11pts in the green jersey classification.
60km to go: Anneke Dijkstra does a turn on the front of the escape group, then drops back and lets someone else have a go. With 3min 50sec, do they have a chance of staying away until the end?
The peloton snakes through a sharp right-hander and then across a bridge over the Autoroute A20 L’Occitane.
Updated
61km to go: The gap between break and peloton has fallen to 3min 50sec. Movistar are working hard on the front.
64km to go: With 584km raced, the halfway point of the Tour de France Femmes has just been passed.
65km to go: The gap between break and peloton is 4min 21sec. Lylyk (Winspace Orange Seal) has given up on her attempt to get in the breakaway and is swallowed up by the peloton.
66km to go: Needless to say, seconds after the live pictures appeared, it was time for a commercial break. That meant we missed a crash back in the bunch. Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease A Bike) and Elyne Roussel (St Michel - Preference Home - Auber93) both went down, but both are back on their bikes and riding.
70km to go: It’s 31km until the front of the race reaches the day’s intermediate sprint, at Dun-le-Palestel.
71km to go: It’s 4min 36sec for the break, and Lylyk is still trying to get across, but she’s 3min 16sec down. It’s a brave move but surely she is going to struggle trying to get across to these five up front.
Updated
75km to go: Kristen Faulkner (EF Education–Oatly) has abandoned following one of the earlier crashes. She also suffered a crash late yesterday. Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Uno-X Mobility) has also packed it in. Sad for those riders and teams.
Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and (as mentioned earlier) Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) have also abandoned. Balsamo is a huge loss to the race.
Updated
76km to go: “There has been chaos in the peloton. Two big crashes,” says Iris Slappendel on the TNT Sports motorbike. “We’ve had some DNFs today and that is really sad. The roads have been very narrow … and tailwind … and a big fight to get in the break.
“It’s again a really nervous day in the peloton … the girls in the break are out of trouble and able to ride their own race.”
77km to go: Kiara Lylyk (Winspace Orange Seal) is trying to get across to the break. But she is 2min 35 behind.
78km to go: The advantage of the five up front has flown out to 3min 23sec. The closest rider in the break on GC is Barale, and she is 8min 24sec down, so it looks like the GC teams are happy for these five up front to contest the win?
86km to go: Why not send me an email? Merci.
82km to go: “Really looking forward to today,” said Kim Le Court (AG Insurance–Soudal) earlier. “If the legs are there we are going to try and grab yellow. For sure it’s going to be a fight.
“The yellow is in our minds, but it’s more important to take some seconds in GC. If we can finish in a small group, then for sure, we’ll go for the win.”
Updated
87km to go: Five riders up front now: Alison Jackson (EF Education-Oatly), Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ), Francesca Barale (Team Picnic PostNL), Catalina Anais Soto (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) and Anneke Dijkstra (VolkerWessels Cycling Team).
They have 1min 45sec on the peloton.
Updated
87km to go: Barale, Jackson, Dijkstra and Soto Campos are now up front together and they have 1min 35sec on the bunch. There are other riders trying to get across.
Now, in the UK, we have live coverage but still no live pictures. Is this good enough, on the part of race organisers, ASO? I don’t think so.
“For sure, it will be a fast race again, because the wind is quite strong and we have a tailwind,” Ferrand-Prévot of Visma-Lease A Bike said this morning.
“It will be important to be in a good position, and to start the last climb in the top positions.
“We want to win the stage with Marianne, and keep me in good position in GC … we want to be good, but also to save some energy for the last days … the last three days will be hard enough to make the difference. We have to find the balance.”
Updated
93km to go: “I recovered good,” Vollering said before today’s stage. “I already feel better today than yesterday. It was a relief to be able to ride, because my neck was so stiff [after the crash on Monday] … today is a really nice day, super-close to our service course – there will be a lot of people cheering, and I am looking forward to our “home” race.
“We focus every day as a team, on what we can do. Yeah, step by step.”
97km to go: According to TNT Sports, Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) has abandoned following an earlier crash that involved about 15 riders.
There are two more withdrawals on the official page, that have appeared in the last hour or so, but Balsamo is not among them.
Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv-Alula-Jayco) and Katrine Aalerud (UnoX-Mobility) are the latest withdrawals listed.
More to follow.
Updated
99km to go: The Côte de Chabannes (1.4km, 5.2%) is the first climb of the day. It’s a category four.
Then the Cote du Peyroux (3.3km, 4.3%), another cat-four, then the category-three Le Maupay to finish (2.8km, 5.4%).
All those climbs come in the last 40km or so.
Updated
102km to go: Dijkstra and Barale are now working together up front and they have 1min 27sec on the chasing bunch.
Two chasers are in between the peloton and the leaders: Alison Jackson (EF Education-Oatly) and Catalina Soto (Laboral Kutxa–Fundación Euskadi). They are 20sec behind.
Updated
107km to go: Anneke Dijkstra (VolkerWessels) is trying to bridge across to the solo attacker, Barale.
109km to go: Francesa Barale (Picnic PostNL) has attacked and has 40sec on the peloton.
Picnic PostNL are certainly trying to animate the race. The average speed has gone up to 46.7km/h.
Updated
111km to go: “Today we’re going to try to do something special, why not take back the yellow jersey?”
Not my words, the words of Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal), currently third in GC, before today’s stage.
Updated
112km to go: Wiebes, in fact, crashed earlier and that is the reason she was off the back of the bunch. Sounds like there is no serious harm done, however, and she is back and riding in the peloton.
Updated
115km to go: I take it back about things being calm in the peloton. This was in fact the fastest first hour of the race so far.
118km to go: Anna Van der Breggen also dropped back to help Wiebes back into the peloton. Meanwhile, Visma-Lease A Bike are controlling on the front of the bunch.
128km to go: I wonder how Vollering is feeling after her crash two days ago. It’s entirely possible that the injuries are more painful today.
Yesterday, Jos van Emden, the Visma-Lease a Bike DS, claimed that FDJ-Suez want Vollering in “a gilded cage”, after Vollering and her team complained about a lack of respect in the peloton.
“What he’s saying is ridiculous,” Jos van Emden, the team director at Visma-Lease a bike, told Dutch media after an outburst by his counterpart Stephen Delcourt. “Apparently he wants a peloton of eight riders, with Demi in it, to ride in a gilded cage. He’s simply been influenced by Demi, by Demi’s posturing.”
129km to go: Wiebes, in the green jersey, is 13sec behind the peloton with a teammate, Blanka Vas. Probably a mechanical and no harm done, presuming they catch up with the bunch without too much trouble.
132km to go: “The strategy is to go for victory with Marianne without losing time overall for me,” said Ferrand-Prevot earlier, of the Visma-Lease A Bike drill for today’s stage.
🗣️ "The strategy is to go for victory with Marianne without losing time overall for me." - 🇫🇷 @FERRANDPREVOT #TDFF2025 l #WatchTheFemmes l @GoZwift pic.twitter.com/cwnp2fWYvf
— Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) July 30, 2025
134km to go: Linda Zanetti (Uno-X Mobility) is the latest to give it a crack. She is caught.
141km to go: Now Elena Cecchini (SD Worx-ProTime) has clipped off the front, solo, and has 33sec on the peloton. Even so, the average speed of the overall race has dropped further, to 43.7km/h.
Updated
144km to go: Elena Hartmann (Ceratzit) and Victoire Berteau (Cofidis) did launch a cheeky little attack, but they’ve now been caught.
145km to go: I don’t currently have the luxury of live pictures, but the average speed – 44.6km/h – would suggest things are relatively calm in the peloton. Relatively being the operative word.
150km to go: Vos’s ability, combined with the time she’s spent at the top of the sport, is nothing short of astonishing. I’m old enough to remember her beating Lizzie Deignan (then Armitstead) to the women’s road race gold medal at London 2012.
152km to go: “We’ll have to see how the day will go,” said the race leader Marianne Vos before today’s stage. “It’s the longest stage and there is more climbing in the final. Every rider, the whole bunch wants to be in the breakaway today. So it’s going to be an especially tough start.”
Regarding the points classification battle with Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) –the green-jersey wearer Wiebes leads Vos by 40pts – she said: “Lorena has a good advantage, and as we said up front, that’s not the main target. With Lorena as competition you know that’s going to be hard.”
Quotes via LeTourFemmes.fr
Updated
154km to go: Franziska Koch (Picnic–PostNL) has gone on the attack yet again. She was really strong yesterday and spent most of the day in a two-rider break. And she’s obviously feeling good … however, the peloton is all together, after Franziska Brausse (Ceratizit) chased Koch down.
The Polish rider Agnieszka Skalniak-Sojka, of Canyon/Sram-zondacrypto, was the solitary withdrawal before today’s race. You can see the full list of abandonments here on the official site.
“She’ll be deeply missed but above all, we’re hoping that she recovers quickly,” the team wrote on X.
There are 143 riders remaining.
Updated
Stage five has begun
We are racing. No, they are racing.
The temperature, according to the official site, is a mere 22.5C. That is almost wintry by the standards of the Tour de France.
Updated
Points classification: top 10 before stage five
1) Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) 197pts
2) Vos (Visma-Lease A Bike) 157pts
3) Koch (Picnic PostNL) 70pts
4) Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal Team) 66pts
5) Vollering (FDJ-Suez) 59pts
6) Jansen (Volkerwessels Cycling Team) 54pts
7) Van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) 48pts
8) Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon/Sram) 47pts
9) Bossuyt (AG Insurance-Soudal Team) 39pts
10) Lippert (Movistar Team) 35pts
Updated
Speaking after yesterday’s stage, Pauline Ferrand Prévot (Team Visma-Lease A Bike) said she is looking forward to the road going up … she’s feeling good, clearly, and will be making an assault on the GC in the high mountains.
With the top 10 all within 31sec of race leader Marianne Vos it is all looking extremely well poised for the mountain stages.
Christian Prudhomme, director of the men’s race, said over the weekend he had hoped for “more of a duel” between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard in the GC. Well, here is the tight overall battle he wanted.
Updated
Top 10 GC after before stage five
Today, you suspect, will not be a GC day, but here is the top 10:
1) Marianne Vos (Team Visma-Lease A Bike) 11hr 13min 11sec
2) Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) +12sec
3) Kimberley Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) +12sec
4) Pauline Ferrand Prévot (Team Visma-Lease A Bike) +18sec
5) Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon/Sram Zondacrypto) +22sec
6) Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) +25sec
7) Anna Van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) +27sec
8) Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) +27sec
9) Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) +31sec
10) Chloe Dygert (Canyon/Sram Zondacrypto) +31sec
Updated
That, of course, is Jeremy Whittle’s stage report from yesterday, which you have ample time to peruse before today’s hostilities.
Lorena Wiebes secured her second stage win in the 2025 Tour de France Femmes on the Avenue John Kennedy in Poitiers, after again fending off her Dutch compatriot Marianne Vos in an uphill sprint.
Wiebes, who also won the Italian classic Milan-San Remo and the the points classification in the Giro d’Italia, described 2025 as her “best season to date”. She has also won five Giro stages between from 2021-2025.
“I have tried to have more of a free mindset, like I had in the Giro,” Wiebes, of Team SD Worx-Protime, said. “This season has already been really good, even if I hadn’t won in the Tour de France. It doesn’t feel like we have a lot of pressure from the team.”
Preamble
The profile of stage five, between Chasseneuil-du-Poitou and Guéret, looks ripe for a breakaway in the final: there are three categorised climbs inside the last 36km, two category fours and one category three, after a relatively flat 130km or so.
However, the location of the day’s intermediate sprint, at Dun-le-Palestel after 127km, may lead certain teams to try and control the race until then. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx–Protime), who leads the green jersey standings after two stage wins in two days, said yesterday she may try to get in breakaways to fight for more points. But perhaps Marianne Vos, the overall leader and yellow-jersey wearer, and her Visma-Lease A Bike team will lend a hand in controlling things.
At 165.8km, this transitional stage is the longest of this year’s race. It will be interesting to see how fierce the battle to form an early breakaway becomes, because there are already plenty of tired bodies in the peloton, with a few teams and riders hoping for a relatively easy day with a non-threatening breakaway allowed up the road.
This being the Tour de France Femmes, though, it’ll probably be flat-out all the way.
Stage start time: 12.35pm UK/1.35pm local
Updated
