'We're fighting for every second possible' - yellow jersey battle erupts on Tour de France Femmes stage five
With last year's finale in mind, each bonus second is turning into a GC scrap


Nobody knows the value of seconds like Kasia Niewiadoma. At last year’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, after more than 24 hours of racing, the Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto rider won by just four ticks of the clock’s big hand – the smallest margin in the history of the Tour.
The memory of that edition is omnipresent at this year’s race. Bonus sprints, and extra seconds across the line, have turned into gold dust. As the mountains now loom, and with just 27 seconds separating first from fifth, all the GC contenders want to bank as much as they can.
“You never know what can happen in the end,” Niewiadoma told Cycling Weekly after stage five. “If you can see some seconds, it seems like everyone is ready to embrace that.”
With 9km to go on day five's road to Guéret, the reigning champion chased down Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) on a climb. The move wasn’t for the victory, however, but a green gantry pitched halfway up, where six, four and two precious seconds were on offer; Le Court took the biggest prize, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) earned four, and Niewiadoma swept up the scraps.
It was this attack, which eased slightly over the line, that Le Court had initially been targeting. “My main goal was to take the bonus sprints,” she said of the stage. Not the victory? “Whether I won the stage or came second or third, it didn’t matter. I would have still gotten yellow on my back.”
It was an extra, then, that Le Court would go on to also claim the stage, fending off a select group of her GC rivals, including Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), Demi Vollering (FDJ-SUEZ) and Niewiadoma. The Mauritian now leads the race again, thanks, primarily, to bonus seconds. No other rider has taken more than her 26 – without them, she’d be in fourth.
“I think we’ve seen a few Tours on the women’s side that have been lost by seconds, so I think we’re fighting for every second possible,” Le Court said in her winner's press conference. “You just never know. Last year was played by four seconds. Maybe today six seconds is going to pay off later on.”
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It’s a fact of which Vollering needs no reminding. Last year’s runner-up, the Dutchwoman felt the agony on Alpe d'Huez of falling the wrong side of the clock. This time, she's determined to not let it happen again. The FDJ-SUEZ rider finished second on stage five, picking up four seconds that lifted her above Niewiadoma in the standings.
“It was really like 'playing the game', so I really liked this last part,” smiled Vollering as she spun out her legs on the turbo. “I was really, really close, so it was a good feeling to have a sprint final like this again.”
During her warm-down, 200m up the road, Niewiadoma laughed to her sports director outside her team bus. “It’s funny,” she said, “we’re fighting for seconds, but on [the Col de la] Madeleine [on stage eight], it could be minutes.”
Still, as Niewiadoma said herself: "You never know what can happen in the end.” The Tour is unpredictable. Every second counts.
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Tom joined Cycling Weekly as a news and features writer in the summer of 2022, having previously contributed as a freelancer. He is fluent in French and Spanish, and holds a master's degree in International Journalism. Since 2020, he has been the host of The TT Podcast, offering race analysis and rider interviews.
An enthusiastic cyclist himself, Tom likes it most when the road goes uphill, and actively seeks out double-figure gradients on his rides. His best result is 28th in a hill-climb competition, albeit out of 40 entrants.
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