Demi Vollering closed the gap on Tour de France leader Marlen Reusser to just 12 seconds as she edged out her rivals to claim victory in the fifth stage.
Vollering broke away on the final climb of the 140km stage from Mâcon to Belleville-en-Beaujolais before crossing the line just ahead of Reusser and Kasia Niewiadoma.
Reusser, who took the overall lead in Wednesday’s individual time trial, retained the leader’s yellow jersey, but Vollering reduced the Swiss rider’s lead by claiming the bonus seconds for the stage win.
The trio are the only realistic contenders left for the title after the other hopefuls, including defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, who lost two and a half minutes on the day and is back in 17th place, five minutes behind Reusser.
Dutch veteran Anna van der Breggen’s hopes of adding a Tour de France Femmes win to her four Giro d’Italia titles also appear to have been dashed after she crossed the line with Ferrand-Prévot to drop back to 12th place with a deficit of just over four minutes.
The next placed Dutch rider is Femke de Vries, Ferrand-Prévot’s team-mate at Visma Lease-a-Bike, in eighth place, 3 minutes 11 seconds back.
It is the fourth stage victory for 29-year-old Vollering in the women’s tour, which has only existed as a separate race since last year. In 2023 she won the mountain stage to Tourmalet, while the following year she won the time trial in Rotterdam and the climb to the summit of Alpe d’Huez.
“I’m so incredibly proud of this victory,” said the FDJ team leader. “Everyone in the team played their part, which makes it all the sweeter.”
On Thursday the riders will tackle the 153km stage from Montbrison to Tournon-sur-Rhône, with the high point, the 1,099m Col de Lalouvesc, coming at the 105km mark.
