Stage six report: The Tour de France Femmes leader, Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) won stage six of the race, from Saint-Die-Des-Vosges to Rosheim in the Alsace region, after outsprinting Marta Bastianelli of the UAE Team. Jeremy Whittle was there to see it ...
Stage six in summary: Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) was first past the post in the latest stage of the Tour de France Femmes, her second win of the race increasing her lead on GC to 30 seconds, with the remaining two stages in the mountains to come.
For all her talent, Vos will almost certainly lose the yellow jersey in tomorrow’s mountain stage to Le Markstein but can console herself with the fact that she has all but secured the green jersey. She has a 76 point lead over Lorena Wiebes, who would have fancied her chances of making it a hat-trick of stage wins this afternoon, were it not for a high speed fall on a descent that left her bloodied and bruised.
Top 10 on General Classification after stage six
- Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) 19hr 30min 14sec
- Silvia Persico (Valcar-Travel & Service) +30sec
- Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) +30sec
- Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) +35sec
- Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (SD Worx) +1min 05sec
- Demi Vollering (SD Worx) +1min 11sec
- Juliette Labous (DSM) +1min 19sec
- Aneemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) +1min 28
- Cecile Ludwig (FDJ-Suez-Futurscope) +2min 02sec
- Elise Chabbey (Canyon/SRAM Racing) +2min 34sec
🇳🇱 @marianne_vos wins in Rosheim, in her Yellow Jersey 💛
— Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) July 29, 2022
Victoire en Jaune pour @marianne_vos 💛#TDFF #WatchTheFemmes pic.twitter.com/D6UKOGBOPo
Marianne Vos wins by a bike-length: The Dutch rider breasts the metaphorical tape ahead of Marta Bastianelli (UAE Team ADQ) in second place, with Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) rolling across the line in third.
Marianne Vos wins the stage!!!
The Dutch legend wins the sprint in the yellow jersey, extending her lead on GC courtesy of the bonus seconds that were up for grabs. That was a thoroughly deserved win on the back of a fine team effort from the riders of Jumbo Visma.
1km to go: Karljin Swinkels of Jumbo Visma does her turn at the front and with 400m to go the field takes an extremely tight right turn.
2km to go: The Jumbo Visma teammates of Marianne Vos are positioned near the front of the bunch as assorted big-hitters prepare for what could be a thrilling denouement.
4km to go: Dappled in shadows, the tree-lined road is fairly narrow and the turns are tight as the bunch heads down towards the finish in almost single file.
5km to go: Le Net leads the field into a sweeping descent towards the finish with the peloton strung out behind.
6km to go: Team SD Worx take over at the front of a bunch that is about to catch Marie Le Net.
7km to go: With two kilometres to go to the beginning of a very tricky descent to the finish, Marie Le Net keeps the hammer down as Trek-Segafredo leads the chase at the front of the peloton behind.
8km to go: French FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope rider Marie Le Net is first over the final climb of the day but her lead of the peloton is just 16 seconds.
11km to go: Onwards and upwards and our breakaway group has been reduced to a trio – Marie Le Net, Jos Lowden and Anna Henderson – who are being hunted down by a peloton that is just 30 seconds behind. Le Net attacks on the final categorised climb with just 10 kilometres to go.
13km to go: Despite the struggles of their teammate Lorena Wiebes after her crash, The riders of Team DSM are doing the hard work at the front of the bunch, in an effort to set up Liane Lippert for a sprint finish.
16km to go: There is one climb left today, the Category 4 Côte de Boersch, which peaks 9.2km from the finish line and it’s more or less downhill all the way to the line. Just after the flamme rouge, signifying one kilometre to go, the road gets very narrow, which could lead to all sorts of problems in the event of a sprint finish.
18km to go: The gap from the breakaway to the yellow jersey group is 1min 06km, while the unfortunate Wiebes is a further 1min 34sec behind, cycling on her own and looking in a great deal of discomfort.
22km to go: The lead group is down to approximately 10 riders, while the Green Jersey, Lorena Wiebes has crashed on a descent. She’s sits for a while on the roadside looking very sorry for herself before getting back to her feet, remounting and setting off in pursuit of the bunch. Her shorts are torn and there is claret pouring from her right elbow.
27km to go: It’s as you were with the 14-woman breakaway but the gap is in to 45 seconds. We can hopefully expect some fireworks in the lead group from here on in. At the front of the peloton, Australian FDJ Suez Futuroscope rider Grace Brown attacks.
33km to go: A stage that promised so much in terms of excitement is delivering precious little so far – the 14-woman breakaway is being kept on a very tight rein by the chasing peloton and the gap is at 1min 11sec.
41km to go: The breakaway group go through the intermediate sprint with Tamara Dronova (Roland Cogeas Edelweiss Squad) taking maximum points. The gap to the bunch is 1min 20sec.
It's strung out behind as riders from teams who have missed the break try to keep it under control...
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 29, 2022
The escapees enjoyed a maximum gap of 2'07" over the summit of Côte de Grendelbruch and are now holding an advantage of ~1'20" as the race enters the last 50km 🚴♀️ #TDFF #TDFFdata pic.twitter.com/03K1lXu2hk
55km to go: The EF Education boss gets back on the blower to his woman in the breakaway, Kathrin Hammes, warning her to be careful of some tricky turns on the descent from the Cote de Grendelbruch. She moves nearer to the front of the bunch.
60km to go: Jos Louden sprints off the front of the breakaway to take the maximum three points available at the summit of the Cote de Grendelbruch. Once over the top, she sits up, reaches back into her pocket and pulls out something to eat. I thought she might pull a sly tactical stroke by putting even more distance between herself and the rest of the breakaway.
61km to go: We hear from the race radio of EF Education-Tibco-SVB rider of Kathrin Hammies, whose directeur sportif reminds her to eat and drink, eat and drink ... and do as little work as possible in the breakaway.
61km to go: The breakaway group is making its way up the category 3 Côte de Grendelbruch which is 512m high and the gap is out to 1min 46sec. They have a kilometre to go to the top.
68km to go: Jos Louden (Uno-X) takes maximum points on the second climb of the afternoon, the Category 4 Côte de Klingenthal and is followed over by Marie Le Net (FDJ-Suez- Futuroscope). Behind them, Bastianelli has been reeling by a bunch that is 1min 38sec off the pace being set by the leaders.
71km to go: The gap is out to 1min 50sec and UAE Team ADQ rider Marta Bastianelli is doing her damnedest to bridge across from the peloton to the breakaway, no doubt under orders as her team missed out on a place in the original escape party.
75km to go: A group of 14 riders have opened a gap of 1min 24sec on the peloton. Please be upstanding for Audrey Cordon Ragot (Trek-Segafredo), Sheyla Gutierrez (Movistar), Christine Majerus (SD Worx), Marie Le Net (FDJ Suez Futuroscope), Anna Henderson (Jumbo-Visma), Franziska Koch (Team DSM), Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon//Sram), Ruby Roseman-Gannon (BikeExchange-Jayco), Sandra Alonso (Ceratizit-WNT), Laura Smulders (Liv Racing Xstra), Katrin Hammes (EF Education-Tibco-SVB), Jesse Vandenbulcke (Le Col-Wahoo), Joscelin Lowden (Uno-X) and Tamara Dronova (Roland Cogeas Edelweiss Squad).
75km to go: Maaike Boogaard was first over the first of four climbs today, the Category 4 Col d’Urbeis. She took two Queen of the Mountains points, with Femke Gerritse, who currently wears the polka dot jersey, taking the other one.
78km to go: Martina Alzini (Cofidis) has abandoned.
We join stage six with 85km to go: It’s been quite the frenetic start but the bunch remains intact although Trek-Segafredo rider Elisa Longo Borghini, in fourth place on GC, has had to work hard to get back in the peloton after suffering a mechanical. Her teammate Audrey Cordon Ragot helped pace her back to the bunch.
"Anyone wanting to take a stage victory into Rosheim has to ride this one from the front." @spannawalker talks through Stage 6 which has very little time for recovery and a technical run in to the final 5km #TDFF #TDFFdata pic.twitter.com/v96HZcQEgQ
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 29, 2022
Three non-starters: Marta Lach (Ceratizit-WNT), Eleonora Gasparrini (Valcar-Travel & Service) and Marjolein Van’t Geloof (Le Col-Wahoo) failed to line up at the start today, which means the field is down to 125 riders with three stages to go.
Liebes wins stage five as almost half the field hit the deck
Stage five report: Lorena Wiebes of Team DSM won her second stage of the Tour in a sprint finish, while almost half the field were involved in a massive pile-up. Jeremy Whittle reports from Saint-Dié-des-Vosges.
Top 10 on GC after stage five
- Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) 16hr 20min 58sec
- Silvia Persico (Valcar-Travel & Service) +20sec
- Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) +20sec
- Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) +34sec
- Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (SD Worx) +55sec
- Demi Vollering (SD Worx) +1min 01sec
- Juliette Labous (DSM) +1min 09sec
- Aneemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) +1min 18
- Cecile Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez-Futurscope) +1min 52sec
- Elise Chabbey (Canyon/SRAM Racing) +2min 24sec
Saint-Dié-des-Vosges to Rosheim (128.6km)
Following yesterday’s sprint finish at the end of a long, flat track, today’s far more punchy stage may be better suited to the breakaway specialists in the peloton ahead of tomorrow’s foray up the mountains.
While today’s course is hilly and more suited to the baroudeurs in the field, the sprinters among the bunch may well fancy their chances in what is almost certainly their final opportunity to take a stage win before a race-deciding weekend in the Vosges. While unlikely, it would not be a massive surprise to see Dutch rocket Lorena Wiebes make it a hat-trick of wins this week.
