Stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes brings the longest test of the whole race, with a 165.8-kilometre route from Chasseneuil-du-Poitou (Futuroscope) to Guéret on offer, that finishes with a series of hills in central France.
Three categorised climbs line what is set to be an explosive final 35km of the stage, with the Côte de Chabannes (1.4km at 5.2%), Côte du Peyroux (3.3km at 4.3%) and Le Maupuy (2.8km at 5.4%) likely to force a GC battle in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.
After starting from the Futuroscope amusement park, a breakaway will also look to establish itself on the opening flat 100km of the stage, before things gradually rise to the punchy finale.
Shorter climbs on stages 1 and 2 of the Tour de France Femmes have already prompted overall contenders such as Pauline Ferraind-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) to attack, so the longest climbs of the race so far, arriving on Wednesday, should see similar action.
Le Maupuy, being 2.8km long at 5.4% average gradient, is likely hard enough to split things, especially with the earlier two climbs likely to see the top teams trying to soften up the competition and dispatch with the more versatile sprinters.
For race leader Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), it could be a day on which she survives and may be able to sprint into Guéret on, but Ferrand-Prévot is more than punchy enough to challenge if the pace is too high for the yellow jersey.
The same will be true of the stage 3 and 4 winner Lorena Wiebes, with SD Worx-Protime also having Anna van der Breggen and world champion Lotte Kopecky as options, although the latter is struggling with an injury and well away from her dominant best so far.
Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) would have been an option for this stage had she not crashed two days prior to its arrival, but thankfully, concussion was ruled out, and she was able to make her way around stage 4 and finish in the main group in Poitiers. It was quite the heavy impact, though, so time loss could be incoming on stage 5.
The pre-race favourite will be looking to get through the day safely and survive the probable attacks in the final from her rivals, before the hardest mountain stages arrive from Thursday onwards.
If Vos and Wiebes are dropped, Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) is another favourite for the squad, showing her versatility with podium finishes on the opening two stages, and as the reigning Liége-Bastogne-Liége champion, a hilly finale suits her perfectly.
Stage 5 will set up the GC battle nicely ahead of the run into the Forez mountains on stage 6, and the triple alpine finale on stages 7, 8 and 9. It won't decide the winner of the race, but could definitely end someone's hopes at yellow or the podium if they are unable to follow in the punchy hills.
Mountains
- Côte de Chabannes (1.4km at 5.2%), 130.9km
- Côte du Peyroux (3.3km at 4.3%), 143.2km
- Le Maupuy (2.8km at 5.4%), 158.7km
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