27/07/2023

Ricarda Bauernfeind takes solo victory on stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes in biggest result of her career

The fifth stage of the 2023 Tour de France Femmes has been won by Ricarda Bauernfeind of Canyon//SRAM Racing in the biggest result of her career.

Stage 5 finishing in Albi, is a stage that should see a sprint finish, however there are big possibilities for the offensive riders to cause a surprise.

2023 Tour de France Femmes Prize Money Distribution - €36.980 in total

The pace was absolutely fierce in the peloton with more riders dropping out the back of the group than being able to get into the breakaway.

11 riders did go up the road, best placed of whom in the GC was Claire Steels at 2:44. The main peloton was keeping a very tight leash, not allowing much of a timegap to form.

As the peloton took on the first categorised climb of the day, the break was caught as some of the sprinters began to struggle out the back of the bunch.

After the final categorised climb of the day, Ricarda Bauernfeind was a solo leader with a 1:35 advantage over the peloton and just over 23km left to hold on.

With 10km to go, her lead had been cut to just 39 seconds. Bauernfeind was impressively holding her own, and the time gap was held at 35 seconds with 5km to go.

Even a counterattack from Liane Lippert and Marlen Reusser couldn't bring back the 23-year-old German as she took the biggest result of her career to date.