'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

Kim Le Court at the Tour de France Femmes
(Image credit: Getty Images)

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.

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Tom Davidson
Senior News and Features Writer

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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