A late solo attack may not have resulted in a stage win Julie Van De Velde on stage 3, but it did for Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon-SRAM Racing) on stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in Albi.
The neo-pro attacked ahead of the uphill grind to the time bonus sprint with 36.4km to go and time trialled to victory ahead of none other than Marlen Reusser (Team SD Worx), one of the strongest time trialists in the world, and stage 2 winner Liane Lippert (Movistar).
Bauernfeind's lead in the final 10km was touch-and-go, or so it seemed, but with a favourable wind and indomitable spirit, the German held on to take the victory 22 seconds ahead of her two pursuers.
The youngest stage winner in both editions of the Tour de France Femmes struggled to find words to describe her triumph.
"To be honest I can't believe it, it's incredible," Bauernfeind said. "I had the support from my teammates, from the cars behind - everyone helped me and supported us. It was just an incredible team ride. We had to chase the first group because we missed it and my teammates did such a fantastic job. It was up to me. I tried to attack and it worked out.
"We waited for the win the whole year - now we did it - it's fantastic."
SD Worx left the chase too late in the tailwind run-in, and Reusser outsprinted Lippert for a disappointed second place.
Race leader Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx) led a much-reduced group to the line at 32 seconds with one important change to the top 10 of the general classification.
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal-Quickstep) was the big winner on the day, snatching the last of the time bonuses at the sprint with 36.4km to go and moving into second place after Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx) was given a 20-second penalty for drafting off her team car following a puncture.
The South African is 49 seconds adrift of Kopecky, with Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) third on the same time as Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) and Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar). Vollering dropped to 7th behind new polka dot jersey holder Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) at 1:03.
Bauernfeind, with her victory, moved into ninth place behind Lippert, with Juliette Labous (Team dsm-firmenich) rounding out the top 10.
How it unfolded
After a long, hard day in the saddle on stage 4, the peloton lost a handful of riders either before or during stage 5, most notably European Champion Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx), who would have been the main favourite for a stage win on a flat run-in to Albi.
Along with Wiebes, the race lost Jenny Rissveds (Coop-Hitec Products), Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X), Evita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ), Kaja Rysz (Lifeplus Wahoo), and Gabrielle Pilote Fortin (Cofidis).
On the rolling start of a very hot stage, the peloton kicked off at a high pace with an 11-rider attack never gaining much time as the peloton behind split.
Claire Steels (Israel-Premier Tech-Roland), Olivia Baril (UAE Team ADQ), Amber Kraak (Jumbo-Visma), Clara Koppenburg (Cofidis), Ella Wyllie (Lifeplus-Wahoo), Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal-Quickstep), Clara Edmond (Arkéa), Paula Patiño (Movistar), Loes Adegeest (FDJ-SUEZ), Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx) and Hanna Ludwig (Uno-X) worked together but couldn't get even a minute's lead.
SD Worx made sure to keep a short leash on the move despite having Bredewold ahead but soon it became apparent the supposed sprint stage would not be one for the fast women after all. Former World Champion Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) was among some 30 riders victims of the brutal pacemaking before the first climb of the stage.
A few small crashes took down Coryn Rivera (Jumbo-Visma) and Lizzie Deignan (Lidl-Trek), while Vollering had a puncture in the first half of the stage. The second half saw the race explode on the Côte de Najac, a 2.1km climb at a 7.4% average.
At the start of the climb, the breakaway was in sight of the peloton and was caught before the top. Polka dot jersey wearer Anouska Koster (Uno-X) lost touch and was unable to get any points on the category 3 ascent. Stage 4 winner Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) made the front group, however, and powered away to take the maximum points.
Marta Cavalli (FDJ-SUEZ) ran off the road on the technical descent and had to chase back on. The next climb came straight away and Kastelijn again took the points for the category 3 Côte de Laguépie (1.5km at 9%) without any challenge, moving into the lead of the mountains classification.
With only one climb remaining in the final 40km, Jumbo-Visma decided to throw down on an uncategorised climb with Riejanne Markus being followed by Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM) and Claire Steels (Israel-Premier Tech-Roland) going clear while Kopecky was in the convoy collecting bidons.
That move came back but soon Canyon-Sram sent Ricarda Bauernfeind up the road on the long grind up the 7% grade to the time bonus sprint at Castelfadèze. Bauernfeind had Steels for company for a time, but as the gradient kicked up the Briton drifted back. Bauernfeind, meanwhile kept powering away, taking the six-second time bonus as behind, and Moolman-Pasio snatched the last two-second bonus behind chaser Steels.
The German powered through the intermediate sprint with 34.8km to go with a strong advantage of 1:15 on the maillot jaune group, led across the line by Kopecky. On the final climb, the Côte de Monestiés (1.6km at 6.4%), Bauernfeind had even more time, cresting it 1:35 before Kastelijn led the chasers over the top.
A flurry of attacks after the climb bit into her advantage, bringing it down to 1:16, but with each move nullified the gap bloomed once more.
However, with a rolling downhill run-in, SD Worx began clawing her back, taking half of her advantage out with 10km to go. The 2021 junior world time trial bronze medalist wasn't giving up despite being threatened by the powerful pace of Reusser.
The gap was still over 30 seconds with 4.5km to go when Reusser attacked out of the group with Lippert but could not reel in the determined Bauernfeind in the tailwind.
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