The fifth stage of the Tour de France Femmes descended into chaos when a shocking 30-woman pile-up occurred - with one rider forced to have her leg untangled from their own wheel.
Lorena Wiebes crossed the line to win the stage and it was the Dutch DSM rider’s second stage win after she claimed victory in Sunday’s opening leg in Paris. She stormed to victory in the fifth stage after a dominant four-rider breakaway group were caught at the foot of the Vosges mountains in eastern France.
Earlier in the day, the Tour de France Femmes looked more like an anarchic scene from a horror after approximately 30 riders and their carbon bikes piled in the middle of the race’s 175.6km marathon stage - which is the longest stage in the modern era of women’s cycling as it runs from Bar-le-Duc to Saint-Dié-Des-Vosges.
When one rider came down in the middle of the bunched group with 45km remaining, Lizzie Holden was one of four riders from the Le Col-Wahoo team who slammed into the crash. While the Brit came out of the collision unscathed, she admitted she was rattled by the accident which subsequently split the peloton in two.
“We were all together and it just happened so quickly, you don’t really have time to stop,” said Holden. “I guess it was at a point when we were all relaxed and there was a bit of fatigue. Maybe there was a touch of wheels or something.
“I was further back than the other girls, so I didn’t have any damage, I just had to change bikes, but some of the other girls came off a lot worse. Hopefully they’ll be okay but it was stressful, four of us had to have a bike change – my handlebars turned the other way.
“For me personally, I’m a bit scared in the peloton at times so after things like that, I tend to hold back a bit more. It’s also really horrible seeing so many girls on the floor. You see some that don’t move for ages, it’s crazy and it’s really not nice to see. It’s part of bike racing, but we still come back every day.”
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Amid the chaotic scene, it took riders around three minutes to get back on track and one unidentified rider from EF Education-Tibco-SVB even had to have their leg physically removed from the spoke of her wheel. Norwegian star Emma Norsgaard was taken to hospital in a neck brace.
As the peloton dusted itself down and returned to action, Italian rider Marta Bastianelli of UAE Team ADQ - one of the victims of the horrifying incident - could be seen riding away with a bloodied elbow.
Ultimately, Marianne Vos of Jumbo-Visma extended her lead over Movistar’s Silvia Persico following a four-second time bonus for finishing third behind Wiebes and world champion Elisa Balsamo, who represents Trek-Segafredo. Vos has a 20 second lead over Persico heading into the next stage.
On Friday, the race heads towards the Swiss border on Friday ahead of the brutal mountain stages that await towards the end of the Tour. Vos is in control at the moment, but seconds in the sprint matter little compared to minutes in the mountains.
