Tour de France Femmes stage 5 LIVE: The hills of Beaujolais could spark a GC battle

The fear for the stage and the eight categorised climbs has perhaps convinced some riders and teams to race cautiously.

135km to go

The pace is high on the first climb, no attacks just yet, but sone of the sprinters are suffering at the back

Allez!

This is the stage map. The many climbs and twisting roads has sparked comparisons with Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

I sense it could be even harder.

The tension is already high, with an early crash. Demi Vollering was caught in it but did not go down.

Here we go! The stage starts with a climb into the vineyards.

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C'est Parti! The speaker does his usual countdown and announces 'They're off!'

The riders face a 140km stage in the hills.

Before that they have a 7.2km neutralised ride to Km 0, where the attacks will surely start.

Five minutes to the roll out and so the riders line-up at the start, with the jersey wearers on the front of the grid.

Marlen Reuser spoke briefly on the sign-on podium

It's time for Marlen Reusser to show off her new yellow jersey on the sign-on.

She also has a yellow bike, helmet and sunglasses.

Dem Vollering and her FDJ United-Suez team are next to sign on.

Vollering produced a superb TT on Tuesday, as some of her GC rivals struggled. It will be fascinating to see if Vollering goes on the attack today, to try to gain more time.

'We don't expect that Marlen will explode' – FDJ United-SUEZ focus on keeping up the pressure after Demi Vollering moves into second overall at Tour de France Femmes

Canyon-Sram are the latest team to sign-on in Macon.

All the riders are again wearing ice-vests, with temperatures at 29C and forecast to rise to 31C during the stage.

There are again huge crowds at the Tour.

The stage roll out is 40 minutes away, with the official stage start at 14:00CET.

Stage 5 sees the Tour head south into the Beaujolais region for a gruelling up-and-down from Mâcon to Belleville-en-Beaujolais.

Eight classified climbs and several uncategorised ascents fill a 140km day that will be broadcast from start to finish. It all adds up to 2,900 metres of elevation gain - the second-most of the whole nine-day race.

All the stage rolls through vineyards and forests, making it a possible GC day. Will Marlen Reusser (Movistar) still be in yellow at the finish?

This is our full stage preview.

Tour de France Femmes 2026 stage 5: Eight climbs on tap to shake up GC in Beaujolais – preview

As for every stage, we will have the best, most detailed, updates from the stage.

We kick-off our live coverage before each stage and add reaction and analysis after the finish.

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