Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime) sprinted to her best career win yet on stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift on Thursday, but her celebration was somewhat subdued, overshadowed by concerns for race leader Demi Vollering.
The race favourite was tangled up in a crash at just 6.3 kilometres to go, hitting the deck hard and taking some time to assess herself before she could continue.
The high-speed crash occurred due to an unmarked tight turn after a roundabout, which saw wheels overlapping and resulted in quite a pile-up. Among the fallen were British champion Pfeiffer Georgi (dsm-Firmenich PostNL), who was unable to continue with a fractured verterbrae, Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) in the polka dot jersey, Sofia Bertizzolo (UAE Team ADQ), Anna Henderson (Visma-Lease a Bike), and Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco). The latter two still sporting signs from crashes in earlier stages.
Vollering got back up but appeared visibly in pain as she remounted her bike and eventually crossed the line with a grimace, 1:47 after her teammate Vas.
The incident caused Vollering to slip down to ninth in the General Classification, losing her yellow jersey to Kasia Niewiadoma, who finished second for the second day in a row.
SD Worx-Protime released a statement in the evening with an update on the GC rider, stating that after the stage, Vollering was taken to the team hotel to be examined by the team doctor. The doctor concluded that Vollering had suffered "minor bruising and superficial abrasions to her lower back and buttock," but she sustained no fractures.
“Considering how fast I fell, I’m glad I didn’t suffer any broken bones. After the fall I had to recover and check everything. Then, I was able to get back on my bike and continue the race. Now we have to wait and see how it feels tomorrow morning. But I assume I will be able to continue the Tour tomorrow." Vollering said in a statement.
"I am happy that Blanka Vas still managed to win the stage. After her disappointment of just missing out on a medal at the Olympics, she picks up a beautiful victory here.”
Due to the time loss, Vollering is now 1:19 down on the GC from race lead Niewiadoma.
"That's nothing in the mountains," commented Niewiadoma, who expects a good battle between her and Vollering as the Tour moves into the Alps.
Friday's stage 6 heads into the Jura mountains and ventures above 1,000m for the first time, giving riders a taste of what's to come in the final days. There are five categorised climbs to tackle, with four of them in the second half of the course, including the second-category La Roche du Pretre, onto which piggybacks the cat-three Côte des Fins. This stage will likely be a testing ground for the GC favourites before we head to the really big mountains.
