Tour de France Femmes 2024 (August 12th-18th)

[Hugh Januss]

As soon as she was caught, she was going to finish third, so she could just as well keep the pace up to gain as much time as possible on the group behind.

Indeed it was still a successful outing for her. She did move from 46th to 3rd in GC.

 

[Sciatic]

I will now give Niewiadoma a new name. Poulidor.

How about “Puffidor”?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Stage 5: Bastogne - Amnéville, 152.5 km

Start time: 12:05 CEST. There will be live pictures from 13:50-ish
Expected finish time: Around 16:00.
Weather: 21-27 °C. Wind 11-14 km/h from western directions, gusts up to 24 km/h.

150 km in rolling terrain await the riders on day 4. After an early cat. 3 climb, something amazing will happen after 64 km: This French race finally arrives in France!

The rest of the stage includes 4 cat. 4 climbs, the last of which is followed by a bonus sprint at the actual top; 13 km from the finish in Amnéville. The final km has a gentle rise which maxes out at about 6%, but it flattens out towards the line.

The route makes it possible for both a bigger breakaway and a late attacker to succeed, but I think that is much more likely to happen tomorrow. This seems like the last possible chance for Lorena Wiebes to win a stage in this year's Tour, so I expect her to be very determined to make that happen. Whether her team will help her achieve that is a different matter.

It also looks like a perfect stage for Marianne Vos, who yesterday seemed to drop mostly due to Riejanne Markus being in trouble and not because she herself was on the limit. I doubt Charlotte Kool wil be able to hang on, but the likes of Elisa Balsamo, Puck Pieterse, Kim Le Court, Noemi Rüegg, Karlijn Swinkels and other puncheur-esque sprinters should all be in the mix in this kind of final.

 

[yaco]

Vos has not shown the form to suggest she can win a stage, however you can never rule her out. This should be a breakaway stage if riders/teams are aggressive at the start.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Don't look now, but we're actually in the country we're supposedly touring, and it only took us until stage 5 of 8!

Kinda feels almost as silly as that year the Tour de Pologne had a mountaintop finish on Passo Pordoi.

 

[awavey]

How about “Puffidor”?

I was thinking Mary Jane...

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Magnaldi feeling like Vingegaard there.

 

[yaco]

I doubt this break will be brought back. There should be 8 or 10 riders in the break. It's as if teams do not want to win a stage at the TDF.

 

[yaco]

What a bizarre stage! Why is Liv Alula Jayco riding at the front of the peleton when they should be in the break. Why is NFB acting as a rouluer when she should be resting to help Vollering in the last 2 stages.

 

[Colombiano Cadence]

I doubt this break will be brought back. There should be 8 or 10 riders in the break. It's as if teams do not want to win a stage at the TDF.

Totally agree. I mean, wtf are Movistar doing?? They should have someone in this break for sure

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Wiebes didn't contest the intermediate sprint on stage 1, but she's done it since then. If she wants to win green, this is a prime opportunity to close the gap to Kool and Vos. Now the teams is riding, but why didn't they start doing that when the gap was only 2 minutes?

 

[Didinho]

Trek riding for Balsamo now. Will be hard to stay in front for the leaders.

 

[memyselfandI]

So Fem van Empel ftw. Is it van Anrooij day tomorrow? (route profile looks to be good for her frame)

 

[Didinho]

Vos, Balsamo and Wiebes in the chasing group/first peloton.
Puck had her useless pull again lol.

 

[Didinho]

Big crash with the favorites. Nooooo.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Attack now you fools!

Outside the 3k/5k whatever rule they're using today

Everyone up but that one looked quite nasty, quite fast

 

[Samu Cuenca]

 

[BigCoward]

Big crash with the favorites. Nooooo.

Vollering looks wrecked

 

[dobrien]

sh*t. sh*t. sh*t.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

really horrible crash

 

[Peyroteo94]

An awful route, awful race and Demi is down. What a sh## show this Tour is

 

[Tim Cahill]

Wiebes? Difficult one.

 

[Didinho]

Just too much speed in the corner. And one rider slipping so others had to swerve more to the outside.
Hope everyone is okay. Puck was the first to get up and find her bike.

Apparently Wiebes went against Demi.

 

[Didinho]

Demi only now with a teammate.

 

[Keldergoat]

Where on earth are her teammates?