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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 at 12.22 EDT
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 at 12.32 EDT
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.
SharePoints 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 at 12.03 EDT
In the end, the green jersey-wearer Wiebes lost 9min 04sec after being dropped during the late climbs.
Updated at 12.23 EDT
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 at 11.57 EDT
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 at 11.53 EDT
“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 at 12.40 EDT
“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.”
ShareTop 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 at 11.46 EDT
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 at 11.40 EDT
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 at 11.34 EDT
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.
Kimberley Le Court Pienaar (centre) celebrates at finish line as she wins the stage ahead of Demi Vollering (right) and Anna Van Der Breggen. Photograph: Szymon Gruchalski/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 12.55 EDT
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 at 11.28 EDT
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 at 11.26 EDT
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 at 11.24 EDT
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 at 11.23 EDT
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 at 11.16 EDT
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 at 11.14 EDT
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 at 11.11 EDT
14.5km to go: Vos attacks from the main bunch! The five escapees have 12sec.
Updated at 11.10 EDT
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 at 11.08 EDT
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 at 11.06 EDT
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 at 11.03 EDT
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 at 11.00 EDT
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 at 10.57 EDT
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 at 10.56 EDT
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 at 10.50 EDT
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.