Coming into stage 5, the longest distance ever raced in women’s WorldTour cycling history, Team DSM had one simple objective which the team and Lorena Wiebes executed perfectly – winning the stage.
The 178 kilometre race was frantic in the first 45 minutes as teams fought to get some of their riders into the breakaway of the day. Once a break had formed, the peloton calmed and the team came through to control the bunch – showcasing their strength and ambition for the day.
Franziska Koch committed everything to keep the pace high and to control the gap from the breakaway in the earlier stages of the race, which included the first two category climbs of the day. With 70 kilometres to go, Liane Lippert and Juliette Labous guided Wiebes into position to take maximum points available in the intermediate sprint behind the four breakaway riders, edging her ever closer to the green jersey. Afterwards, the peloton relaxed and the team kept driving on with the break at around two minutes.
A big crash in the peloton with around 45 kilometres to go stalled the chase but fortunately noone of the team were involved. The break was finally caught in the closing couple of kilometres from which point Pfeiffer Georgi expertly commandeered Wiebes to make sure she was positioned within the top ten wheels. Georgi dropped Wiebes off with less than a kilometre to go, and from there, Wiebes navigated a frantic finale and delivered a perfectly timed sprint to take her second victory of the inaugural Tour de France Femmes. A sensational ride from the whole team on another historic day.