Vollering wins, Reusser holds yellow and Ferrand-Prévot flounders on dramatic Tour Femmes stage 5

Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) won a dramatic stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes after beating yellow jersey Marlen Reusser (Movistar) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) in a three-up sprint in Belleville-en-Beaujolais.

The trio forged clear on the upper reaches of Mont Brouilly with 10.5km to go after sustained forcing from Vollering, and they have now stolen a significant march on the rest of the GC contenders at the Tour Femmes.

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma) was the biggest casualty of Vollering’s aggression on the final two climbs, losing 2:30 and surely all hope of a repeat overall victory, while Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE) lost 1:43.

Vollering dictated the terms of engagement in the finale of the stage by setting her FDJ United-Suez team to work on the penultimate ascent of the Col de Durbize before accelerating in person near the summit.

That effort helped to distance Ferrand-Prévot and Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE), while it also carried a group featuring Reusser and Niewiadoma up to the remnants of the day’s early break.

Vollering et al reached the front of the race ahead of the bonus sprint with 14km to go, where Reusser added two seconds to her overall advantage by taking first place ahead of the Dutchwoman.

That sprint led immediately into the category 2 ascent of Mont Brouilly, where FDJ United-Suez repeated the dose, with Juliette Berthet setting the early tempo before Vollering began her onslaught.

Vollering initially whittled down the front group down from 20 riders to six, and she kicked again on the steep upper portion. Niewiadoma had her measure there, while Reusser dug deep to hang on over the summit, leaving an elite group of three to tackle the descent and the run-in to the finish in Belleville-en-Beaujolais.

They combined smoothly in the finale, knowing that their efforts were helping to remove Ferrand-Prévot from contention for this Tour Femmes.

Niewiadoma looked to steal a march by anticipating the sprint with 300m to go, but Vollering hunted her down remorselessly to win the stage ahead of Reusser.

In the overall standings, Reusser remains in yellow, 12 seconds clear of Vollering.

The hilly terrain after leaving the start in Maçon was peppered with mountains points, and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) sensed an opportunity to extend her lead in the classification. She was first to the top of each of the first six climbs of the day, starting with the early category 2 Côte de Cenves.

Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) signalled her ambition by escaping alone shortly afterwards, but she was swept up before the Col de la Croix de l’Orme, where Pieterse led over the top. Carlotta Cipressi (Human Powered Health) clipped away alone ahead of the intermediate sprint in Monsols, where Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) won the sprint for second to tighten her grip on the green jersey.

Pieterse resumed her mountains haul by leading over the Col de Fontmartin, and that effort would lead to the formation of the break of the day shortly before the midpoint of the stage. Come the next climb, the Col de Gerbet, Pieterse had 18 riders for company off the front, including Femke de Vries (Visma | Lease a Bike), Juliette Berthet, Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez), Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon//SRAM), Dominika Wlodarczyk, Maëva Squiban (UAE Team L’Imad), Amanda Spratt, Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek), Liane Lippert (Movistar) and Madeleine Vallieres (EF Education-Oatly).

That group built a maximum lead of two minutes, putting Niedermaier in the virtual yellow jersey, though Movistar and FDJ United-Suez were collaborating to keep the buffer within acceptable limits.

With 35km to go, the gap was down to 1:20, and the unity of the break fragmented on the lower slopes of the category 3 Col de Durbize, where Squiban sprang onto the attack, with Fisher-Black responding in kind. Fisher-Black would lead over the climb with Wlodarczyk, Niedermaier, Vailliers and Lippert for company, with the remnants of the break scattered behind.

Back in the yellow jersey group, meanwhile, Évita Muzic wound up the pace for FDJ-Suez, splintering the peloton into shards in the process. Célia Gery took up the reins on the steeper section near the summit, before Demi Vollering’s inevitable attack came 500m from the top.

Only Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon SRAM), Marlen Reusser (Movistar) and Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) could follow, while a struggling Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma) was distanced.

Vollering, Reusser et al were just 30 seconds down on the leaders at the top, and they began picking off the remnants of the break over the other side, mindful that they were putting significant time into Ferrand-Prévot.

The yellow jersey group merged with the Fisher-Black group with 22km to go, leaving 19 riders at the front, while Ferrand-Prévot was a minute back and chasing frantically to try to save her Tour Femmes challenge, while the UAE duo of Elisa Longo Borghini and Paola Blasi chased at 30 seconds.

Reusser won the bonus sprint ahead of Vollering and Wlodarczyk with 14km to go, before the front group tackled the stiff 3km ascent of Mont Brouilly. Berthet set the tempo at the bottom before her leading Vollering took over 1.7km from the top. Niewiadoma was immediately onto her wheel, while Reusser also resisted the initial acceleration, which reduced the front group to eight riders.

Vollering accelerated again on the steepest section near the top of Mont Brouilly, but she couldn’t shake off Nieiwiadoma or Reusser. That trio crested the summit with 10.5km to go with a 20-second buffer over Holmgren and Niedermaier, while the floundering Ferrand-Prévot was now more than two minutes back.