The place to watch the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is right here on SBS. Replays, mini stage recaps, highlights and live streaming can be found on the SBS On Demand Tour de France Hub and the SBS Skoda Tour Tracker, available for download on iOS and Android.
Sporting the Hungarian national champion's jersey, Blanka Vas (Team SD Worx-ProTime) was strongest in the uphill drag to the finish in Amneville to win Stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes ahead of Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) and Liane Lippert (Movistar).
Only weeks after a fourth placed finish in the Olympic road race, Vas became the first Hungarian stage winner in men's and women's Tour de France history after timing her move to perfection in the finale.
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Tour de France Femmes 2024
series • cycling
series • cycling
"It's crazy, I still can't believe it," the 22-year-old said after the stage.
"I don't know what to say! I really didn't expect this today because I felt so bad during the race. Anna [Van der Breggen] said to me "believe in yourself" and then it helped me a lot."
While Vas' victory was a highlight for Team SD Worx-ProTime, the stage also dealt them a harsh blow after overall leader Demi Vollering was injured in a nasty crash with 6.4 kilometres to go.
A sweeping left turn quickly followed a roundabout, causing multiple riders including Vollering and Australian Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco) to slide out at speed trying to navigate it.
In visible pain, Vollering was very slow to regain her resolve to climb back on the bike and keep pedalling and by the time she did, she had already lost over a minute to Niewiadoma who had avoided the crash and sat in third overall just 34 seconds behind top spot.
With her second place finish on the stage, Niewiadoma rode into the yellow jersey for the first time in her career, as Vollering battled to finish in fiftieth, dropping to ninth overall with a deficit to first of a minute and 19 seconds.
"My radio was not working so I didn't know what happened in the back but Demi crashed and lost yellow so it's a shame," Vas said of her teammate's situation.
"Now, I have mixed feelings."
With three stages left to race, recent Olympic road race champion Kristen Faulkner (EF Oatly-Cannondale) moves into second overall at 19 seconds behind Niewiadoma, with yesterday's stage winner Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) a further three seconds behind in third.
Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) was the best placed Australian on the stage, finishing in 30th, 35 seconds behind the winner.
The Tour de France Femmes continues tonight with Stage 6, a hilly 159.2km route from Remiremont to Morteau. Watch the action from 9:50pm AEST on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand.
