Le Court holds off Vollering in Tour de France Femmes, Vos loses yellow, Pieterse falls behind

After two sprinter stages, the peloton arrived in the center of France. The stage to Guéret was the longest of the race, and the finale looked set to be tough. Was it already a day for the GC contenders, or not? The breakaway riders also saw an opportunity: there was a huge battle to get ahead, but after about 100 kilometers, we saw some familiar faces at the front.

Alison Jackson (EF Education - Oatly) and Catalina Soto (Laboral Kutxa - Fundación Euskadi) were back, just like in the fourth stage. The pair were joined by Francesca Barale (Picnic PostNL), Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ), and Anneke Dijkstra (VolkerWessels). They didn't get much of a lead, as the peloton kept the five within two minutes on the flat run-up to the hilly finale.

Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and Kristen Faulkner (EF Education - Oatly) would not make it to the finish. The pair had crashed earlier in the Tour, but the American fell before the official start, and Balsamo crashed with Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) among others. The European champion got back into the pack, but the Italian did not get back on her bike. The same was true for Uno-X leader Katrine Aalerud and several other riders.

Marion Bunel also crashed: the top talent from Visma | Lease a Bike was able to continue, but she lost a lot of time. With about 40 kilometers to go, the five riders in front still had a minute or two on the peloton, but from that point on, it was really up and down: the final could begin. Movistar, in particular, kept the pace high for leader Liane Lippert. But on the first climb of the day, FDJ-SUEZ took over.

In the leading group, it was game over for Soto and Dijkstra: the three strongest riders remained. Not for long, though, as Chapman decided to break away on the penultimate climb. At that point, the peloton was already closing in, thanks in part to Fenix-Deceuninck for Puck Pieterse. The Belgian team set a blistering pace, which meant that green jersey Wiebes fell behind. Even with help from Lotte Kopecky, she was unable to catch up.

The rest of the final was mainly a matter of sprinting and standing still. Shirin van Anrooij, among others, tried her luck on behalf of Lidl-Trek, but the Canyon//SRAM and FDJ-Suez teams kept everything together towards the hilly final ten kilometers. Meanwhile, GC contenders such as Demi Vollering and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot held their positions at the front.

Eight kilometers from the finish, it became clear why: Vollering pulled away, with Ferrand-Prévot and Le Court on her wheel. There were several victims, including yellow jersey Marianne Vos and GC contenders Cedrine Kerbaol (EF-Oatly) and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck).

Both women had to let go on the climb, partly due to the pace set by Sarah Gigante after dropping the two. Downhill, Van der Breggen took the lead, indirectly sealing Vos's fate. Once at the bottom, the teamwork wasn't great, until Gigante took the lead for her teammate heading into the final kilometer. It was a successful move, as Le Court looked set to win the sprint easily, or so it seemed, because she threw her arms in the air very early with Vollering hot on her heels. However, it proved to be enough.