15/08/2024

Tour de France Femmes 2024 | Blanka Kata Vas secures stage 5 win as Demi Vollering crashes hard late on

There were mixed emotions for Team SD Worx - Protime on stage 5 of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes as Blanka Kata Vas took the stage, but Demi Vollering lost time after a late crash.

On a supposedly 'flat' stage, the constantly up and down parcour was causing casualties in the peloton with Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL's, Green Jersey wearing Charlotte Kool being the most notable rider in trouble early at the back of the peloton.

Lance Armstrong surprised at Tour de France Femmes and Demi Vollering's speed: "Her average speed in this time trial was 51 kilometers an hour. I remember doing time trials at 51 km/h"

Whilst for some the pace was too high, for others it wasn't high enough and after repeated attacks, a four rider breakaway moved clear of the peloton. Those four being Fem van Empel, Alice Towers, Loes Adegeest and Julie van de Velde. Heading into the final 30km, the leaders - now minus Towers - had built up an advantage of over two minutes from the peloton.

As those with stage win hopes attempted to distance the remaining sprinters in the bunch, the gap between peloton and breakaway began to drop drastically though and on the final little kicker, within the last 15 or so kilometres, even GC hopefuls such as Gaia Realini were put into difficulty.

With the peloton now within 30 seconds, the breakaway started the infighting, with Van de Velde the first to make an attack at around 12km to go, although a few kilometres later, all were caught. There was then a massive crash in the peloton at just over 6km to go with even Maillot Jaune Demi Vollering hitting the deck hard and only getting back on her bike very gingerly. Outside the 3km to go marker however, the Team SD Worx - Protime leader had no time to hang around, needing to ride hard to close the gap to the peloton. Curiously though, there was a notable lack of support given to Vollering from her teammates in the chase back.

Up the road however, there was still a stage to be won. In the fight for the finish line, Liane Lippert was the first to open things up, but in the end it was Blanka Kata Vas who prevailed ahead of Katarzyna Niewiadoma.