It’s natural that the most testing finale of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift so far brought about the first real selection of the contenders for the overall title. After two explosive stages in Brittany, and two sprint finishes in Angers and Poitiers, stage five was an establishing of a hierarchy, and there weren’t any surprises about the make-up of the front group which contended the reduced bunch sprint in Guéret.
One of them was 2023 winner and pre-race favourite Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) and this finish was the best she has looked all race, coming within a whisker of stealing the stage from Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal).
“I felt pretty OK. I was really happy with this final, it was a nice one. It was really like 'playing the game', so I really liked this last part,” Vollering wasn’t too disappointed by missing out on the win — she has her eyes set out wearing yellow by the end of play on Sunday.
“I thought first I wanted to go on the right so I was next to Anna [van der Breggen], but then she came totally from the right so I needed to brake and go all the way around to the space on the other side. It was a bit sad because with that I lost a lot of speed and I needed to come from far to Kim's wheel. Then on the line, I was really, really close, so it was a good feeling to have a sprint final like this again.”
Vollering, who crashed hard on the finale of stage three, has been waiting for this point in the race, where the Massif Central and Alpine ascents favour her climbing ability. And crucially the chaos of the opening stages are in the rear-view mirror.
Having moved up to third, 0:23 behind Le Court, Vollering looks to be in a good place on the current GC standings. But how does she feel after that crash on the run to Angers, which could have ended her race?
“Still, I'm a bit tense and stuff like that from the crash. I hope I will only get better from today but let's see,” Vollering has the twin ability to simply brush off disappointment and frustration but also use them as motivation. It’s an ominous sign for her rivals as the race gets increasingly challenging and mentally durability can be as important as physical.
And what of her team? Up against AG Insurance-Soudal looking impressive through the yellow jersey Le Court and climber Sarah Gigante, the ever-strong SD Worx behind Anna van der Breggen, Niewiadoma’s cohesive Canyon//SRAM squad and Visma-Lease a Bike mounting a serious GC challenge through Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, FDJ-Suez have their work cut out for them.
But, despite not being able to hold onto the pace up the final climb on Wednesday, Juliette Labous, Elise Chabbey and Évita Muzic can all take confidence from their form after five stages and the fact they are some of the strongest domestiques in the race. With four riders in the top 13, FDJ has the most depth of all the teams in the race and they lead the teams competition. Now they have to decide how they use them. They may decide to use the three domestiques to pace the upcoming climbs for Vollering.
Alternatively, they could play it combatively: when it comes to multiple threats on the GC, it’s a case of use it or lose it. Labous, Chabbey and Muzic were unable to keep up on Le Maupuy climb on stage five, so it’s likely they will continue to leak time and will soon be too far back to be genuine overall contenders. Being aggressive while they are still a threat on GC, sending them up the road, would force other teams to chase, potentially isolating the leaders, giving Vollering the perfect opportunity to attack. The FDJ squad should look to use their current GC relevancy to break up the Le Court-Gigante partnership, which proved so effective on stage five.
Using domestiques up to pace the climbs may seem the least risky tactic. But it only works if you have the best climber among your ranks. The race has yet to reveal who this may be, but we soon find out. There are unforgiving roads ahead.
