Stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift went off at a rapid pace in sweltering conditions, leaving a group of nine riders fighting to make the finish inside the time limit. After being initially deemed to be out of the race, the UCI jury reinstated all nine, but it wasn't an act of pity, according to Marjolein van 'T Geloof (Human Powered Health).
"We had to stop for the train with 2km to go. They took the time of that we stopped and we had to sprint to the line. They did not pity us," Van 'T Geloof explained in a reply on Twitter.
The unassuming profile of stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes belied the difficulty of the 126.1 kilometre trek from Onet-le-Château to Albi. With temperatures soaring near 30°C, a demanding 178km stage behind them, and a rapid start all factored into the peloton shattering mid-way through the stage.
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When the climbs were over and Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon-SRAM) was en route to the stage victory, only 33 riders remained in the first peloton. The next group was some 12 minutes behind, and a third peloton over 17 minutes down.
Nine riders came across 24:22 behind the stage winner: Anastasiya Kolesava and Marie-Morgane Le Deunff (Arkéa Pro Cycling), Maria Giulia Confaloneiri (Uno-X), Lotte Henttala (AG Insurance-Soudal-Quickstep), Babette Van der Wolf (Lifeplus Wahoo), Van 't Geloof and Alice Barnes (Human Powered Health), Jeanne Korevaar (Liv Racing Teqfind) and India Grangier (Team Coop-Hitec Products).
Initially deemed outside the 22:29 time limit by 1:53, the UCI jury accepted that the riders had been stopped by a passing train for 2:10.
After giving them back the time they spent waiting for the train to pass, the riders were reinstated, but given their actual finishing time toward the general classification.
