Key events
That, of course, is Jeremy Whittle’s stage report from yesterday, which you have ample time to peruse before today’s hostilities.
Lorena Wiebes secured her second stage win in the 2025 Tour de France Femmes on the Avenue John Kennedy in Poitiers, after again fending off her Dutch compatriot Marianne Vos in an uphill sprint.
Wiebes, who also won the Italian classic Milan-San Remo and the the points classification in the Giro d’Italia, described 2025 as her “best season to date”. She has also won five Giro stages between from 2021-2025.
“I have tried to have more of a free mindset, like I had in the Giro,” Wiebes, of Team SD Worx-Protime, said. “This season has already been really good, even if I hadn’t won in the Tour de France. It doesn’t feel like we have a lot of pressure from the team.”
Preamble
The profile of stage five, between Chasseneuil-du-Poitou and Guéret, looks ripe for a breakaway in the final: there are three categorised climbs inside the last 36km, two category fours and one category three, after a relatively flat 130km or so.
However, the location of the day’s intermediate sprint, at Dun-le-Palestel after 127km, may lead certain teams to try and control the race until then. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx–Protime), who leads the green jersey standings after two stage wins in two days, said yesterday she may try to get in breakaways to fight for more points. But perhaps Marianne Vos, the overall leader and yellow-jersey wearer, and her Visma-Lease A Bike team will lend a hand in controlling things.
At 165.8km, this transitional stage is the longest of this year’s race. It will be interesting to see how fierce the battle to form an early breakaway becomes, because there are already plenty of tired bodies in the peloton, with a few teams and riders hoping for a relatively easy day with a non-threatening breakaway allowed up the road.
This being the Tour de France Femmes, though, it’ll probably be flat-out all the way.
Stage start time: 12.35pm UK/1.35pm local