Kim Le Court won stage five of the Tour de France Femmes, becoming the first African rider to win a stage of the race. The Mauritian also took the yellow jersey from Marianne Vos, who lost time on her rivals after getting dropped by a breakaway.
Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) was part of the seven-rider breakaway that included several GC contenders, which escaped the peloton on the final climb before a dramatic descent to the finish line. Le Court held off a late surge from Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) to win the final sprint in Guéret, with Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) finishing third.
The defending champion, Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM), along with Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma Lease a Bike), Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceunick) and Le Court’s teammate, Sarah Gigante, all took just over 30 seconds from Vos, who dropped to sixth in the general classification after finishing in the second group.
“We came into the stage with a very clear plan,” Le Court told Eurosport. “If we finish in a small group then try to take the stage victory. The sprint was faster than I expected … luckily my kick is the fastest in the group.
“Having a teammate with me helped a lot,” Le Court added, after hesitation among the leading group on the final descent. “If I didn’t have Sarah [Gigante] with me then maybe the group behind [including Vos] would have caught us up.”
Le Court leads the overall race by 18 seconds with Ferrand-Prévot second and Vollering a further five seconds back. Niewiadoma is fourth, 24 seconds behind Le Court, with Van der Breggen a second behind in fifth, 10 seconds ahead of Vos.
As the GC race heats up, the contenders will face the first mountain stage on Thursday, a 123.7km leg between Clermont-Ferrand and Ambert. The route features four categorised climbs, include the Category 1 Col du Béal.
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Jeremy Whittle’s full race report will follow
