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Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift stage 5 Live - Wiebes claims second win after massive crash mars stage

The profile of stage 5 of the 2022 Tour de France Femmes

(Image credit: ASO)

The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift: the complete guide 

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Bonjour and welcome to the Cyclingnews live coverage of stage 5 of the 2022 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.

We're just a few minutes from the stage start with riders careful to be hydrated and ready for the long day in the saddle. 

All the jersey wearers are on the start line, at the front of the grid.

Here we go! 

The riders face 4km of neutralised riding before the flag drops and the stage starts.

After the Champs-Elysées and Provins, the sprinters get another, perhaps final chance to win in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges. 

C'est Parti! 

All the riders who finished yesterday's stage are in action today, so we have 130 riders in the peloton.

Today's 175km stage is largely flat but does include 3 climbs. 

They're off! 

After 5km the peloton is still together. 

The riders will cover 175.6 kilometers between Bar-le-Duc and Saint-Dié-des-Vosges. That is also the longest distance ever in a UCI women's race.

Annemiek van Vleuten is also looking forward to the longest stage. 

After 15 kilometres there is the first attack of the day. 

150km to go

Human Powered Health also want to make the break and so lead the chase.

Emily Newsom (EF Education-Tibco-SVB) and Anya Louw (AG Insurance-NXTG) remain out front with a gap of 20 seconds.

This is today's stage. 

142km to go

135km to go

It was good to see the French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne at the start of the stage.  

130km to go

Stage 4 of the Tour de France Femmes was expected to shake up the general classification. In the end, most of the GC contenders marked each other after several of them had crashed or punctured on the gravel sectors.

Click below to study the current GC standings. 

Marianne Vos came through the gravel on stage 4 unscathed to finish fifth and maintained her lead in the overall classification at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift

Click here to read what Vos said. 

Here's the break of the day. 

Mavi Garcia’s overall ambitions at the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift were wrecked by her own UAE Team ADQ team car during the final kilometres of stage 4 after the vehicle touched the Spanish champion’s rear wheel, causing her to crash.

Click below to read the full story and reaction from DS Rubens Bertogliati.

120km to go

The four brave attackers are Victoire Berteau (Cofidis), Antri Christoforou (Human Powered Health), Emily Newsom (EF Education-Tibco-SVB) and Anya Louw (AG Insurance-NXTG).

The race has settled but Team DSM are leading the peloton. They clearly want a sprint finish for Lorena Wiebes. 

Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) is the favorite to win this stage if it ends in a sprint. 

“I hope for a bunch sprint finish”, the World champion Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) said at the start. 

105km to go

The 4 leaders still have a lead of 3:30 after the climb.

97km to go

For a moment Yuliia Biriukova (Arkea),  India Grangier (Stade Rochelais Charente-Maritime) and Henrietta Christie (Human Powered Health) formed a counter-attack but were quickly caught by the peloton.  

Today's attack started like this, with Emily Newsom (EF Education-Tibco-SVB) and Anya Louw (AG Insurance-NXTG) attacking first.

They were joined by Victoire Berteau (Cofidis), Antri Christoforou (Human Powered Health) to create a four-rider attack. 

However the peloton kept them in check and at round 3:00. 

It's currently a nice 26C out on the road. 

75km to go

Yet again there are huge crowds out along the stage today. 

70km to go

The break passes the summit of the Côte de Gripport climb.

60km to go

Anya Louw (AG Insurance-NXTG) jumped away to win the sprint. 

There's a real sprint for points in the peloton. 

Vos accelerates but Wiebes takes it. 

55km to go

It's been a day of smiles for race leader Marianne Vos so far. He yellow jersey is surely safe for another day. 

Reports coming through that Barbara Malcotti (Human Powered Health) has been disqualified from the race for 'an irregular assistance', which is often commissaire-speak for getting a tow from a car, but as yet tbc.

45 kilometres to go

Has happened on a straight road, the road is almost completely blocked. Mechanics rushing up with sparewheels, some riders injured on the middle and the righthand side of the road. Emma Norsgaard (Movistar) is one of those affected.

Norsgaard is standing up on the left, but visibly in pain. 

42 kilometres to go

Numerous stragglers from this  huge crash, with Kopecky in a three-rider group, all trying to regain contact. Trek -Segafredo are leading the peloton, with Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) surrounded by her domestiques, with Kopecky's group some 30 seconds back. Former World Champion Chantal ven dan Broek-Blaak (SDWorx), with a bandage and blood dripping down her right arm is a further minute adrift.

36 kilometres to go

Victoire Berteau (Cofidis), Antri Christoforou (Human Powered Health), Emily Newsom (EF Education-Tibco-SVB) and Anya Louw (AG Insurance-NXTG) step up their pace as they realise the bunch's pursuit is in earnest.

Bike change for Silvia Persico (Valcar-Travel&Service), second overall, presumably a knock-on effect from the crash. But she catches up with another group of stragglers from the crash about to regain contact and will make it back into the main group. 

Chantal van den Broeck-Blaak (SD Worx) gets a proper mobile checkup from the race doctor on her injured right arm, which she says via race radio is 'bleeding a lot'. They reach her soon afterwards, the doc. puts on a hefty gauze bandage, and she continues riding.

It's been confirmed that Emma Norsgaard (Movistar Team), one of the worst affected riders in the crash,  has abandoned.

Bike change for Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx)

27.5 kilometres to go

With road dirt and bike grease streaked down her face, Marta Bastianelli (UAE Team ADQ) rides at the rear of the peloton, yet another victim of the huge pile up that affected the peloton in the final hour.

23 kilometres to go

Very soon the race will be tackling the last climb of the day, the Col du Haut du Bois, a 1.5 kilometre ascent at a relatively gentle  4.9 percent average. It's a 'bonus climb,' with a time bonus on GC for the first three riders across the top.

And as the race hits the climb, UAE Team ADQ, DSM and Jumbo-Visma are all suddenly giving it a lot more gas at the front.

As the break's lead crumbles, Victoire Berteau (Cofidis) and Antri Christoforou (Human Powered Health) attempt to go clear of their two breakaway companions on the climb. 

20.3 kilometres to go

No change on for the top riders on GC from the bonus seconds on offer on that climb, therefore as the bunch sweeps down the broad, well-surfaced road that leads off the Col du Haut du Bois.

16 kilometres to go

St. MIchel - Auber '93 and Trek-Segafredo, the latter led by European champion Ellen van Dijk, are racking up the pace in the peloton. 

An image of Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (SD Worx) following the mass crash in the final hour.

11.5 kilometres to go

The race has moved onto slightly narrower country back roads, making it harder for the bunch to organise the chase. And over the team car radio, replayed live to viewers, Cofidis are telling Berteau that the roads are more technical in the finale to spur her on.

9 kilometres to go

6 kilometres to go

5 kilometres to go

3.8 kilometres to go

2.4 kilometres to go

Trek-Segafredo's  Ellen van Dijk leads the peloton towards the final bunch sprint.

A technical run-in with a small climb and sharp right-hander provokes a small crash. Two riders briefly held up.

Van Dijk still leading into the final kilometre, with the bunch split apart by the climb, technical segment and crash.

A rider  has ridden off the course on the deviation for race traffic, possibly Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo)

Wiebes wins the sprint, her second in the 2022 Tour de France Femmes.

Lorena Wiebes (DSM) wins stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift

The stage 1 winner on the Champs Élysées, Wiebes 17th win of the season was taken by a comfortable distance ahead of Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) and Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma). Vos, therefore, retains the overall lead, though the battle for the green jersey between herself and Wiebes is hotting up notably.

Words from Lorena Wiebes (DSM), winner of stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes: "Yes I'm really happy, specially because Franzisk [Franziskia Koch, teammate-ED] did such a strong effort with controlling the race from the beginning on, when the four went away. Franszisk  kept the gap the same and she did an amazing effort so I'm happy to finish it off.
Are you the best sprinter in the world, the interviewer somewhat predictably asks given she has 17 wins this season, including two in the Tour: "You're saying it, I don't like to say it myself., I felt strong in the sprint and I'm happy to deliver the sprint after a long stage."
"It's still a goal to get the green jersey and also to keep going on the GC with Juliette [Labous, teammate-Ed.]. She's also riding really strong. And today was really a team effort and that's the most important [thing]."

In the overall rankings, Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) continues to lead, stretching her advantage up to 20 seconds on Silvia Persico (Valcar-Travel&Service) and Katarzyna Niewiedoma (Canyon/SRAM) thanks to snatching bonus seconds during the long stage. No changes in the top ten placings overall.

And here's a picture of Wiebes taking her second victory of this year's Tour de France Femmes, impressively by an even greater distance than she won on the Champs-Élysées last Sunday.

Vos continues to rule the roost in the points classification, although her previous day's advantage over Wiebes of 58 points has shrunk by over half, to 26.

No changes in the other three classifications, with Femke Gerritse (ParkHotel-Valkenburg) atop the mountains classification, Julie de Wilde (Plantur-Pura) still in control of the Best Young Riders ranking and SD Worx in command of the teams ranking.

And here's a picture of Wiebes on the stage winner's podium for a second time in this year's Tour de France Femmes

And likewise one of Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma), looking equally cheerful as she accepts her fourth leader's jersey of the 2022 Tour de France Femmes.

Here are the full results for today's stage.

You can read Cyclingnews' full report for the stage, complete with the full results and galleries of pictures on the link below: Lorena Wiebes strikes a second time and wins stage 5 of Tour de France Femmes. We'll also have further analysis, reactions, reports and previews as the evening goes on.

And further to that last comment, here is our report on the major crash that happened in the final hour of racing on stage 5: Emma Norsgaard abandons Tour de France Femmes after dramatic crash and our latest report regarding the GC standings: The current GC standings in the 2022 Tour de France Femmes after stage 5

As for Friday's stage 6 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, it's a very different kettle of scaly beings with fins: Running from today's finish town of Saint-Dié-Des-Vosges to Rosheim, it's firstly an awful lot shorter, just 128.6 kilometres. More importantly, stage 6 is a real prelude to the crunch mountain stages of the weekend, containing no less than  five small classified climbs, one third cat, three fourth and one bonus. The last one, the fourth category Côte de Boersch, is  just two kilometres long and has a gradient of 4.4 percent. But more importantly, it's only 9 kms from the finish. So one for the allrounders, then, rather than the out-and-out sprinters.

And that wraps it up for stage 5 live of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. We'll be back for more live action tomorrow Friday though, covering the full stage as usual.

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