The Tour de France general classification battle saw its first selection on today's stage 5, with a small group of riders arriving at the finish to fight for the victory and offering up the first real evidence of the pecking order on this year's race.
And though more racing is required to separate the top group of seven from each other, most of the strongest riders showed their cards for the first time, on the 165.8km stage to Guéret.
The Irish riders - Fiona Mangan, Mia Griffin and Lara Gillespie - will now race to help team mates, and carefully judge their resources, as the general classification show has begun. The climbs are now set to dictate the shape of the race.
However, the length of the today's stage and the near 2,000 of elevation gain didn't stop Mangan (Winspace Orange Seal) from trying to get into the day's breakaway. Unfortunarely for the Limerick woman, she was not in the main escape of the day when it eventually went clear.
Advertisement
And though they made a good fist of it out front, they were caught in the final as the race split and the seven-strong group formed at the front. Race leader Marianne Vos (Visma Lease a Bike) missed out. She was unable to hold her place at the front on the last climb of the day, crested just 7km from the finish.
In that lead group, and confirming their form, were the outright winners from the last two years, Katarzyna Niewiadoma (CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto) and Demi Vollering (FDJ SUEZ). Also present was comeback rider Anna van der Breggen (Team SD Worx-Protime), as well as yesterday's yellow jersey Kim Le Court and her AG Insurance-Soudal team mate, Sarah Gigante.
Former world champion, and one of the GC favourites, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma | Lease a Bike), also made the cut, as did last year's 3rd place finisher, Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck).
Though Gigante really pushed the pace on the final climb, helping drag the front group clear, the Australian was dropped on the fast descent. At that point, Niewiadoma and van der Breggen forced the issue and tried to split the front group again.
Related News
However, once the descent was done, Gigante clawed her way back on and went to the front, clearly hoping to deter anyone attacking her team mate, Le Court. The plan worked a treat, with Le Court winning the stage in a group sprint after just about holding off Vollering, with van der Breggen in 3rd.
Le Court has retaken the yellow jersey and now leads by 18 seconds from Ferrand-Prévot. Vollering is 3rd overall, at 23 seconds, and Niewiadoma is 4th, at 24 seconds. The race continues tomorrow with 123.7km to Ambert, featuring 2,400m of climbing, most of it in the final third of the stage.
Today, Griffin (Roland Le Dévoluy) and Gillespie were 61st and 62nd, in the same group at 9:04, while Mangan was 107th at 12:31.
First real battle between the favourites at the finish in Guéret. Kim Le Court, who has been in fine form this season, won both the stage and the Yellow Jersey. ⚡️
▶️ Here's today's recap! pic.twitter.com/irocIoh6Q4
— Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) July 30, 2025
