Ricarda Bauernfeind takes bold solo victory on Tour de France Femmes stage five

Canyon-SRAM rider Ricarda Bauernfeind went solo with just under 36km to go and never looked back to win today's Tour de France Femmes stage.

Bauernfeind attacked on the Côte de Laguépie with Brit Claire Steels (Israel-Premier Tech-Roland) but soon distanced the British rider and took off solo.

With co-operation in short supply in the reduced bunch behind she built a gap of 1-30 by 22km to go. Ace time trialist Marlen Reusser spent significant periods on the front of the bunch for her SD Worx team trying to create an opportunity for her team leader and yellow jersey holder Lotte Kopecky, but the gap remained stubborn and only reduced to 35 seconds.

Even a counter attack by Movistar sprinter Liane Lippert, marked by Reusser, in the closing kilometers didn’t eat more than 10 seconds into the gap. 

As Bauernfeind crossed the line in Albi she clapped her hand over her mouth in disbelief. 

The Tour stage win is easily the biggest of her career. A talented climber, she notched up third at the Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées last year and took the young rider jersey in the process. She has also held the U23 German road race and time trial titles.

She join’s yesterday’s stage winner Dutchwoman Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) in claiming her first WorldTour win at this Tour. Kastelijn was also solo in her win into Rodez.

The German is also the race’s youngest winner at 23 years old.

Asked if she could believe she was a Tour stage winner Bauernfeind said: “No to be honest I can’t, it’s incredible.”

She went on to thank her team-mates. “We had to chase the first group because we missed it and my teammates did a great job then it was up to me to attack,” she said.

With Lippert's victory on stage two German riders have now won two stages of this year’s race. “It’s fantastic,” said Bauernfeind “I think it’s also for the team [which is German registered] we waited for the win [at the Tour] the whole year and now we’ve done it.”

The yellow jersey remained on the shoulders of Lotte Kopecky but her team-mate who hopes to be wearing it when the race ends, Demi Vollering, was given a 20 second time penalty for drafting behind a team-car following a puncture.

The big decider for the yellow jersey is expected to by this weekend with a stage going up the famous Tourmalet and individual time trial.