How the race finished
Blanka Vas (SD Worx Protime) claimed victory ahead of Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM Racing) and Liane Lippert (Movistar) after a crash saw Demi Vollering lose time and lose the yellow jersey.
Full results are available below.
How it happened
In Stage Five the peloton finally entered France, following another lumpy route from Bastogne to Amnéville. On paper it was a stage that some of the sprinters were hoping to contest, however the terrain was deceptively hard, with 150km of rolling terrain through much of the day.
With 140 km to go, the riders took on the first climb of the day, the Cote de Hotte (1.4km at 5.1%). Elena Pirrone (Roland) was first across with Michaela Drummond (Arkea-B&B Hotels), after they got a small gap over the peloton on the run in. Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) picked up the final point from the peloton. The two escapees were caught soon after, leading to a flurry of counter attacks that would continue over the next 40km, none of which were able to establish much of a gap.
With 95 km to go, the peloton hit the next climb of the day, the Cote de Saint-Pancre (2.9km at 5.1%). As the peloton pushed the pace, Green jersey wearer Charlotte Kool (dsm firmenich PostNL) was dropped. At the top, polkadot jersey wearer Puck Pieterse (Fenix Deceuninck) picked up maximum points, with Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance Soudal) sweeping up what remained.
With 81 km to go, Loes Adegeest (FDJ Suez) attacked out of the peloton, and despite her being very strong in the time trial on stage three, the peloton were willing to let her go. Adegeest crested the Côte de Fermont (1.7km at 4.9%) first, picking up the two points, with Persico getting the better of Pieterse for the final point behind.
Following the Côte de Fermont, Julie Van der Velde (AG Insurance Soudal) and Fem van Empel (Visma | Lease a bike) attacked out of the peloton, working well together to push on away from the bunch. With 68 km to go, the two escapees managed to bridge across to Adegeest, making for three very strong riders up front. The trio extended their lead out to over two minutes. None of the three out front were a serious threat on GC, meaning SD Worx weren’t too worried about chasing yet.
The intermediate sprint came just inside 50 km to go, with the three escapees picking up the main points. Importantly for the green jersey competition, Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx Protime) and Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a bike) led the peloton and picked up points, while green jersey wearer Kool missed out after being dropped earlier.
Approaching the Cote de Briey (1.1km at 4.3%), SD Worx Protime came to the front to ride a hard tempo. With 29 km to go at the base of the climb, the gap was down to two minutes. Once again the three out front mopped up the QOM points as the peloton continued to chase hard behind.
The final climb of the day was the Cote de Montois-la-Montagne (1.7km at 5.8%), however the climb continued to drag upwards afterward, with a bonus second sprint not long after the QOM point. On the downhill approach to the climb, Movistar took over the pace-setting duties, and at the base of the climb with 17km to go, the gap was down to under one min. The three leaders still led through the top of the QOM point, but the gap had tumbled to 20 seconds. The high pace had also shredded the peloton, with some GC contenders like Gaia Realini (Lidl Trek) temporarily distanced from the front group.
Julie van der Velde attacked through the bonus second sprint, with Van Empel and Adegeest cooperating to try to claw their way back to the Belgian. With 10km to go, all three were back together at the front, with the gap still hovering around 20 seconds. Behind, SD Worx Protime led the charging peloton.
With 6km to go, a massive high speed crash through a roundabout upended the stage, and possibly the race overall. It happened near the front of the peloton, just ahead of race leader Vollering, who had nowhere to go. Other GC contenders including Mavi Garcia (Liv AlUla Jayco), Puck Pieterse (Fenix Deceuninck) and Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx Protime) were also caught up. While Vollering was eventually able to remount and continue, she spent over a minute on the side of the road in pain before doing so.
Meanwhile at the front of the race with 4 km to go Adegeest attacked, going solo. Behind, the remnants of the peloton who avoided the crash caught Van Empel and Van der Velde. Significantly, this reduced group included top GC contender Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//Sram Racing), whose teammate Chloé Dygert was able to ride hard on the front in support.
At 2km to go, Adegeest was caught and soon distanced, while behind, Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx Protime) waited up to help pace Vollering.
Into the final kilometre the front group was down to 5 riders. Niewiadoma attacked on the drag up towards the finish, but couldn’t get a gap. Emma Norsgaard (Movistar) tried to counter over the top, before Kristen Faulkner (EF Oatly Cannondale) countered in turn. Her move was closed by Blanka Vas (SD Worx Protime), who wasn’t letting the same thing happen as in the Olympic road race. Liane Lippert (Movistar) started the sprint with a couple of hundred metres to go, only for Niewiadoma to come around her. It looked like Niewiadoma might win the stage but Vas was able to dig deep with her sprinting prowess, passing her just before the line.
Vollering crossed the line 1:47 down on the first finisher, with Niewiadoma becoming the new yellow jersey wearer. Vollering wasn’t the only GC rider to lose time either, with Garcia, Kim Le Court (AG Insurance Soudal) and Fisher-Black all dropping down the standings.
Stage Five Results
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