Key occasions
134km to go: Linda Zanetti (Uno-X Mobility) is the newest to provide it a crack. She is caught.
141km to go: Now Elena Cecchini (SD Worx-ProTime) has clipped off the entrance, solo, and has 33sec on the peloton. Even so, the typical pace of the general race has dropped additional, to 43.7km/h.
144km to go: Elena Hartmann (Ceratzit) and Victoire Berteau (Cofidis) did launch a cheeky little assault, however they’ve now been caught.
145km to go: I don’t at the moment have the luxurious of stay footage, however the common pace – 44.6km/h – would recommend issues are comparatively calm within the peloton. Comparatively being the operative phrase.
150km to go: Vos’s potential, mixed with the time she’s spent on the high of the game, is nothing in need of astonishing. I’m sufficiently old to recollect her beating Lizzie Deignan (then Armitstead) to the ladies’s highway race gold medal at London 2012.
152km to go: “We’ll must see how the day will go,” stated the race chief Marianne Vos earlier than as we speak’s stage. “It’s the longest stage and there’s extra climbing within the last. Each rider, the entire bunch needs to be within the breakaway as we speak. So it’s going to be an particularly powerful begin.”
Relating to the factors classification battle with Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) –the green-jersey wearer Wiebes leads Vos by 40pts – she stated: “Lorena has benefit, and as we stated up entrance, that’s not the principle goal. With Lorena as competitors you recognize that’s going to be exhausting.”
Quotes by way of LeTourFemmes.fr
154km to go: Franziska Koch (Picnic–PostNL) has gone on the assault but once more. She was actually sturdy yesterday and spent a lot of the day in a two-rider break. And she or he’s clearly feeling good … nonetheless, the peloton is all collectively, after Franziska Brausse (Ceratizit) chased Koch down.
The Polish rider Agnieszka Skalniak-Sojka, of Canyon/Sram-zondacrypto, was the solitary withdrawal earlier than as we speak’s race. You may see the full list of abandonments here on the official web site.
“She’ll be deeply missed however above all, we’re hoping that she recovers rapidly,” the workforce wrote on X.
There are 143 riders remaining.
Stage 5 has begun
We’re racing. No, they’re racing.
The temperature, based on the official web site, is a mere 22.5C. That’s nearly wintry by the requirements of the Tour de France.
Factors classification: high 10 earlier than stage 5
1) Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) 197pts
2) Vos (Visma-Lease A Bike) 157pts
3) Koch (Picnic PostNL) 70pts
4) Le Courtroom Pienaar (AG Insurance coverage-Soudal Crew) 66pts
5) Vollering (FDJ-Suez) 59pts
6) Jansen (Volkerwessels Cycling Crew) 54pts
7) Van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) 48pts
8) Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon/Sram) 47pts
9) Bossuyt (AG Insurance coverage-Soudal Crew) 39pts
10) Lippert (Movistar Crew) 35pts
Talking after yesterday’s stage, Pauline Ferrand Prévot (Crew Visma-Lease A Bike) stated she is wanting ahead to the highway going up … she’s feeling good, clearly, and shall be making an assault on the GC within the excessive mountains.
With the highest 10 all inside 31sec of race chief Marianne Vos it’s all wanting extraordinarily nicely poised for the mountain phases.
Christian Prudhomme, director of the lads’s race, stated over the weekend he had hoped for “more of a duel” between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard within the GC. Effectively, right here is the tight general battle he wished.
High 10 GC after earlier than stage 5
Right this moment, you watched, is not going to be a GC day, however right here is the highest 10:
1) Marianne Vos (Crew Visma-Lease A Bike) 11hr 13min 11sec
2) Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) +12sec
3) Kimberley Le Courtroom Pienaar (AG Insurance coverage-Soudal) +12sec
4) Pauline Ferrand Prévot (Crew 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
That, after all, is Jeremy Whittle’s stage report from yesterday, which you’ve got ample time to peruse earlier than as we speak’s hostilities.
Lorena Wiebes secured her second stage win within the 2025 Tour de France Femmes on the Avenue John Kennedy in Poitiers, after once more keeping off her Dutch compatriot Marianne Vos in an uphill dash.
Wiebes, who additionally gained the Italian basic Milan-San Remo and the the factors classification within the Giro d’Italia, described 2025 as her “finest season up to now”. She has additionally gained 5 Giro phases between from 2021-2025.
“I’ve tried to have extra of a free mindset, like I had within the Giro,” Wiebes, of Crew SD Worx-Protime, stated. “This season has already been actually good, even when I hadn’t gained within the Tour de France. It doesn’t really feel like we’ve loads of strain from the workforce.”
Preamble
The profile of stage 5, between Chasseneuil-du-Poitou and Guéret, appears ripe for a breakaway within the last: there are three categorised climbs contained in the final 36km, two class fours and one class three, after a comparatively flat 130km or so.
Nevertheless, the placement of the day’s intermediate dash, at Dun-le-Palestel after 127km, might lead sure groups to attempt to management the race till then. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx–Protime), who leads the inexperienced jersey standings after two stage wins in two days, stated yesterday she might attempt to get in breakaways to combat for extra factors. However maybe Marianne Vos, the general chief and yellow-jersey wearer, and her Visma-Lease A Bike workforce will help in controlling issues.
At 165.8km, this transitional stage is the longest of this 12 months’s race. Will probably be fascinating to see how fierce the battle to type an early breakaway turns into, as a result of there are already loads of drained our bodies within the peloton, with a couple of groups and riders hoping for a comparatively straightforward day with a non-threatening breakaway allowed up the highway.
This being the Tour de France Femmes, although, it’ll most likely be flat-out all the way in which.
Stage begin time: 12.35pm UK/1.35pm native
