Team DSM’s Lorena Wiebes gained stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes to assert her second victory on the inaugural Tour.
The Dutch rider, 23, sprinted to victory in Saint-Die-des-Vosges after a hilly 175.6km stage from Bar-le-Duc.
Wiebes, who gained Sunday’s opener in Paris, completed forward of Italy’s street race world champion Elisa Balsamo and compatriot Marianne Vos.
But yellow jersey holder Vos managed to narrowly improve her total lead.
A 3rd-place time bonus noticed Vos push her lead from 16 to twenty seconds over Italy’s Silvia Persico and Poland’s Katarzyna Niewiadoma.
A dramatic crash with simply over 45km remaining within the stage – the longest ever of a girls’s race within the fashionable period – cut up the peloton and compelled Movistar rider Emma Norsgaard to desert the race.
The peloton finally got here again collectively and Vos maintained her spectacular file of ending within the prime 5 of each stage up to now.
Elisa Longo Borghini now trails the chief by 34 seconds having misplaced 13 seconds within the final 500 metres, when she took a flawed flip at a car deviation space.
Asked if she was the most effective sprinter on the planet proper now, Wiebes mentioned: “If you want to say it. I don’t like to say it for myself. Today I was happy to deliver this sprint after such a long stage.
“It’s nonetheless a aim to get the inexperienced jersey [for points classification], however we additionally wish to keep within the common classification with Juliette [Labous]. It was an actual workforce effort and that was a very powerful factor.”
The Tour concludes with stage eight on Sunday, a 123.3km mountain route from Lure to La Super Planche des Belles Filles.
Stage 5 outcomes
1. Lorena Wiebes (Ned/Team DSM) 4hrs 32mins 16secs
2. Elisa Balsamo (Ita/Trek-Segafredo) Same time
3. Marianne Vos (Ned/Jumbo Visma)
4. Rachele Barbieri (Ita/LIV Racing Xstra)
5. Maike van der Duin (Ned/Le Col-Wahoo)
6. Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Ita/Ceratizit-WNT)
7. Silvia Persico (Ita/Valcar-Travel & Service)
8. Vittoria Guazzini (Ita/FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope)
9. Tamara Dronova (Rus/Roland Cogeas Edelweiss Squad)
10. Alexandra Manly (Aus/BikeExchange-Jayco)
General classification
1. Marianne Vos (Ned/Jumbo Visma) 16hrs 20mins 58secs
2. Silvia Persico (Ita/Valcar – Travel & Service) +20secs
3. Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Pol/Canyon//Sram Racing) Same time
4. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita/Trek Segafredo) +25secs
5. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (SA/SD Worx) +55secs
6. Demi Vollering (Ned/Team SD Worx) +1min 1sec
7. Juliette Labous (Fra/Team DSM) +1min 9secs
8. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned/Movistar Team Women) +1min 18secs
9. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den/FDJ Suez Futuroscope) +1min 52secs
10. Elise Chabbey (Sui/Canyon-Sram Racing) +2mins 24secs
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
