“They’re going to have to make a new plan” – Dani Rowe says Visma face leadership rethink as Pauline Ferrand-Prevot's Tour de France defence collapses

Team Visma | Lease a Bike must tear up its Tour de France Femmes plan after Pauline Ferrand-Prevot’s title defence suffered another major blow on a disappointing Stage 5, according to Dani Rowe.

Ferrand-Prevot began the day 2:13 behind yellow jersey Marlen Reusser following a difficult time trial in Dijon. Her lack of recent racing against the clock and uncomfortable position on the bike offered possible explanations, leaving the harder Beaujolais terrain as a chance to prove her Tour form remained intact.

Instead, the defending champion was dropped when Demi Vollering and FDJ United-SUEZ raised the pace on the Col de Durbize. She eventually conceded another 2:35 to Vollering, Reusser and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, falling to 17th overall at five minutes.

The three riders who contested the stage victory in Belleville-en-Beaujolais are now increasingly clear of the rest, while Ferrand-Prevot faces a deficit almost four minutes larger than the gap separating Reusser and third-placed Niewiadoma-Phinney.

Speaking alongside Manon Lloyd on the Watts Occurring Podcast, Rowe admitted she had expected Ferrand-Prevot to answer the doubts created by her time-trial performance. “I thought she would be better today,” said the Olympic and world champion. “We did question her form in the time trial, but we also questioned whether it was just because she hadn’t done a lot of time trialling and her position.”

The uncertainty had not started in Dijon. Rowe also looked back to Stage 3, when Ferrand-Prevot finished with the main contenders but lacked the sharpness expected from the defending champion.

“Also on Stage 3, if we go back, there were question marks because she wasn’t as punchy,” she said. “But then we put that down to potentially positioning.”

Ferrand-Prevot’s reputation encouraged patience. Her 2025 Tour victory had been built around a perfectly timed peak, while her success across road, cyclo-cross and mountain biking left little reason to doubt her preparation before the race reached its decisive terrain. “If anyone was going to target a race with pure confidence in the way that they were approaching it, it would be Pauline,” Rowe said.

Stage 5 removed much of that remaining doubt. Eight categorised climbs and almost 3,000 metres of elevation offered a far clearer test of Ferrand-Prevot’s condition than the Dijon time trial. She lost contact before the final battle on Mont Brouilly had fully developed.

“But unfortunately, I don’t think there’s any coming back now,” Rowe concluded. “And it is form.”

Lloyd reached a similarly blunt verdict after watching Ferrand-Prevot riding alongside Anna van der Breggen well behind the front of the race. “I think it’s pretty much over,” she said of their overall ambitions.

At the head of the race, Vollering, Reusser and Niewiadoma-Phinney finished together after separating themselves on Mont Brouilly. Vollering won the sprint, Reusser retained yellow by 12 seconds and Niewiadoma-Phinney consolidated third place. “The three that we saw cross the line first today, Demi, Kasia and Marlen,” Rowe said when narrowing down the leading contenders.

Rowe was particularly impressed by Niewiadoma-Phinney, who attacked first in the sprint and came close to denying Vollering the stage. “I thought Kasia looked incredibly strong today, maybe a little bit stronger,” she said. “And also Marlen, I wasn’t expecting her to be right at the spicy end of that.”

Reusser’s ability to follow Vollering on the steepest sections strengthened her position as a genuine Tour favourite rather than merely the rider who had taken yellow through the time trial. Ferrand-Prevot was already more than a minute behind before the final climb began.

Ferrand-Prevot’s losses leave Visma without the GC objective around which its race had been built. “For Visma, are they now going to switch leadership?” Lloyd asked.

“They’re going to have to have a big old chat tonight and make a new plan,” Rowe replied.

Femke de Vries is now the team’s highest-placed rider, sitting eighth overall at 3:11. A strong final classification remains possible, but Visma no longer has an obvious rider within reach of the developing battle between Reusser, Vollering and Niewiadoma-Phinney.

The team could protect De Vries’ position, release riders into breakaways or support Ferrand-Prevot in pursuit of a mountain stage rather than the yellow jersey she arrived to defend.

Rowe also pointed to the widening psychological gap between the riders leaving Stage 5 with momentum and those whose ambitions had unravelled. “The three of them will have good morale, and that is going to stand them in really good stead,” she said of the leading trio. “You compare that to the morale of the likes of Pauline and Anna. Morale probably isn’t going to be high there, and that is going to really affect them going into the start of the day, and I guess the whole team as well.”

Ferrand-Prevot’s Tour has deteriorated across three consecutive tests: a lack of punch on Stage 3, a heavy defeat in the time trial and another decisive loss on climbing terrain. Visma must now find a new purpose for the remaining stages after its original plan collapsed before Mont Ventoux.