Kim Le Court back in yellow with Stage 5 victory at Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift as GC jersey favourites light up finale
By Becky Hart
Updated 31/07/2025 at 09:23 GMT+1
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Yellow jersey contenders Demi Vollering, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney helped light up the finale of Stage 5 at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift - but none could stop Kim Le Court. The Mauritian soared back to the top of the GC, winning the stage and mopping up crucial bonus seconds to open up an 18-second lead over Ferrand-Prevot in the fight for yellow.
Highlights: Le Court sprints to Stage 5 win to reclaim yellow jersey
Video credit: TNT Sports
Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) roared to victory from a select group of favourites on Stage 5 at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, reclaiming the yellow jersey in style.
The Mauritian, who became the first African woman to wear the fabled maillot jaune on Monday, proved the strongest in a frantic finale - though she was almost pipped on the line by Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) after celebrating early.
Le Court takes back the overall lead from Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), who was distanced on the final climb.
Vollering, meanwhile, showed an impressive turn of speed in the finale to take second, only two days after a heavy crash left her participation in doubt.
After an initial breakaway lit up the early stages of the race, the final climb up Le Maupuy saw fireworks amongst the GC contenders.
The big hitters - including Le Court, Vollering and defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) - all contested a sprint for some bonus seconds, and that distanced the rest of the bunch, leaving seven riders to fight it out for the victory.
Le Court had a team mate in Sarah Gigante in that elite group, with the Australian putting in a huge turn on the front to make sure the chasing group could not catch back up.
That was crucial, with Vos in the chase and still in with a chance of holding onto the yellow jersey.
But in the end, Le Court had the power to out-sprint Vollering, to take both the stage win and the yellow jersey.
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"We came into the stage with a very clear plan, to try and stay safe in the early part - that was quite difficult, there were a lot of big crashes," the Mauritian said afterwards.
"Then the big goal was to take the bonus sprint, which I managed to do. And if I got into a small group, to take the victory. Luckily, my kick was the fastest in the group."
Vollering's bonus seconds lift her into third overall in the GC standings, 23'' behind Le Court and just one second ahead of her great rival Niewiadoma-Phinney.
Pauline Ferrand-Prevot is second in the GC standings for Visma, and although she did not overly contest the sprint, the Frenchwoman was still pleased to finish with her main rivals.
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‘Someone needs to hit me in the face’ – Le Court in disbelief after landing maiden stage win
Video credit: TNT Sports
"It was very punchy [at the end], maybe a bit too much for me at the moment," she joked. "But I am still very happy to finish at the front of the stage. In the end it is a good day for us and we made up ground in the GC so it is perfect."
There were a number of attacks in the early stages as the peloton rolled out of Chasseneuil-du-Poitou Futuroscope, with plenty wanting to be in the breakaway.
In the end a group of four riders made it free, Francesca Barale (Team Picnic PostNL), Anneke Dijkstra (VolkerWessels Cycling Team), Alison Jackson (EF Education-Oatly) and Catalina Anais Soto (Laboral Kutxa - Fundación Euskadi) building a gap of a minute well before the first climb.
Brodie Chapman (UAE) then managed to bridge to the group, whose lead remained a non-threatening one minute.
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UAE Team ADQ's Australian rider Brodie Chapman celebrates on the podium with the most combative rider's award after the 5th stage
Image credit: Getty Images
But the big news from the early part of the race was a big crash in the main bunch. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) was brought down, but she managed to get back up and soon rejoined the peloton.
A few others were not so lucky - notably Elisa Balsamo (Lidl - Trek), Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Eugenia Bujak (Cofidis Women Team) who all abandoned.
Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly) then joined the DNF list, the American star having suffered a crash in the neutralised zone - her third tumble of the week.
The break built a lead of over four minutes at one stage, but that soon reduced as the intermediate sprint approached. With the breakaway hoovering up the front five positions, it was left to Wiebes to out-sprint Vos for the honours at the front of the peloton.
The first Cat. 4 climb of the day, the Cote de Chabannes did for two members of the breakaway, while Faulkner lost the wheel on the second climb - the Cote du Peyroux. Wiebes was also dropped from the main bunch, with Lotte Kopecky sticking with her team mate and trying - but ultimately failing - to bring her back.
Silke Smulders (Liv-AlUla-Jayco), Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ), Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek) and Dilyxine Miermont (Ceratizit) used the confusion to bridge to Chapman, the lone remaining member of the original break.
They couldn’t maintain a lead though, and the race came back together on the final climb with just under 10km to go.
Chloe Dygert (Canyon-SRAM) rode herself into the ground for Niewiadoma-Phinney with bonus seconds in the offing up Le Maupuy, but it was Le Court who picked up the maximum seconds - six - with Ferrand-Prevot taking four and the defending champion the last two seconds on offer.
That sprint proved the catalyst, with the front bunch of seven very elite riders then staying away to the finish.
Gigante put in a huge performance to keep that break out in front - knowing her team mate had a great shout of grabbing yellow, if they could keep the distance to the chasing group which contained the dangerous Vos who was 30’’ back on the road.
And in the end her thanks to her mighty turn, team mate Le Court did just that, out-sprinting Vollering and van der Breggen to win the stage and grab the maillot jaune for the second time this race.
Le Court made sure to thank her team mate afterwards, stating:
"I had a team mate with me and that helped a lot. I think if I hadn't had Sarah [Gigante], the other group might have come back as some girls wouldn't work. Without her I wouldn't do what I did today."
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