Key events
81km to go: “A hard start … so many attempts to break away,” says Iris Slappendel on the Eurosport motorbike. “A hectic and fast 30km, but now it looks like the peloton is taking a bit more of a break.
“Most of the riders I spoke to this morning are very, very tired … today will about who has something in the legs, and who is willing to suffer.”
83km to go: The weather: the temperature stated on the live tracker is 29.2C. Hot, but bearable.
Skalniak-Sojka is working away at the front, generating an incredible amount of power to maintain this gap.
In about 10km, the next climb of the day arrives, the Côte de Puycelsi. Another couple of QOM points up for grabs there for the first rider over the top.
86km to go: Skalniak-Sojka (Canyon/SRAM) has 1min 49sec on the bunch, and 42sec on the chasers.
88km to go: Now, Skalniak-Sojka (Canyon/SRAM) is solo at the front. Emma Jorgensen (Movistar) and Dominguez (Ceratizit–WNT) are the chasers.
90km to go: Skalniak-Sojka wins the race to the top of the climb. It’s all very active behind, with riders trying to get away from the peloton. Emma Norsgaard Bjerg (Movistar) attacks at the summit of the climb when the peloton comes through.
93km to go: Another two-rider break: Agnieszka Skalniak-Sojka (Canyon/SRAM) and Sandra Alonso (Ceratizit-WNT) are up the road.
97km to go: For quite a while, the live tracker was showing a 12sec gap for that early breakaway, but it’s now displaying that the race is indeed all together. The summit of the Côte de la Cadène is coming up in about 5km. It’s a 2.5km climb with an average gradient of 4.5%.
(For the avoidance of doubt, the Côte de la Cadène is the first of four categorised climbs on today’s route.)
98km to go: “We cannot change so much … they have the end decision,” Stam told Eurosport earlier today. “It’s a decision that they make … I think we need to accept it, it is how it is, I don’t think it will have any influence on the riders.”
Matt Stephens speaks to SD Worx sports director Danny Stam after he was disqualified from the Tour de France Femmes and fined 500 Swiss francs by the UCI 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/ArPbxc0cfx
— Eurosport (@eurosport) July 28, 2023
99km to go: Danny Stam, one of the SD Worx sports directors, has been expelled from the race after an incident yesterday. Stam was pacing Demi Vollering back to the peloton following a puncture.
101km to go: Just in case you want to multi-screen it, we’ve also got live Ashes coverage from the Oval today:
There is also county cricket:
While at the Women’s World Cup, China have just edged past Haiti 1-0 in Group D:
102km to go: Here’s our stage report from yesterday, and Ricarda Bauernfeind’s dramatic victory in Albi:
103km to go: Mixed messages: Radio Tour stated it was “the end of the breakaway” a couple of minutes ago, but the live tracker shows the two riders up front, with a gap of 12sec between the break and the main bunch. All will become clear in 25min or so when the live coverage starts.
106km to go: Rachel Neylan (Cofidis) had in fact got across to Tacey and it was a two-rider break, but according to race radio, it’s now all back together. It was a brave effort by Neylan and Tacey – there may even be a hint of annoyance in the peloton that they’ve had to work so hard to shut them down.
108km to go: While we are waiting for live pictures, why not have a read of Jeremy Whittle’s latest – an interview with Claire Steels, leader of the Israel-Premier Tech Roland at this race:
110km to go: Tacey, who hails from Leicester, is doing a great job keeping the peloton at a distance. She had as much as 30sec at one point, but the gap is now down to 10sec. Clearly there are too many teams interested in having a rider in today’s break to let Tacey strike out alone …
112km to go: You can always get in touch with me with thoughts on the race: Email or tweet (X?) @LukeMcLaughlin
113km to go: April Tacey (Lifeplus Wahoo) is on the attack, alone out front, and has opened up a gap of 15sec on the pack.
I don’t know about you but I think a break has a great chance of success today – provided of course a decent-sized group can get up the road.
116km to go: The queen of the mountains competition is one to keep an eye on today, with four categorised climbs en route. Yara Kastelijn (Canyon/Sram) leads the way as it stands, with 23pts, Anouska Koster is second for Uno-X Pro Cycling, with 19pts, while Kathrin Hammes (EF Education Tibco SVB) is third with 11pts.
119km to go: Here’s the peloton rolling out for the neutralised start a few minutes ago.
120km to go: The peloton has rolled through KM0, and stage six is go. However, we won’t have live pictures until 2.30pm UK time at the earliest, which is a particular shame on a day like today, when you’d expect a big battle to form a breakaway and plenty of action in the first hour or so.
Top 10 in GC before stage six
1) Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) 18hr 55min 17sec
2) Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Soudal-Quickstep) +49sec
3) Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) +51sec
4) Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) +51sec
5) Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) +51sec
6) Yara Kastelijn (Fenix–Deceuninck) +1min
7) Demi Vollering (SD Worx) +1min 03sec
8) Liane Lippert (Movistar) +1min 25sec
9) Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon-SRAM) +1min 38sec
10) Juliette Labous (DSM–Firmenich) +1min 48sec
Preamble
A route peppered with short, punchy ascents looks like classic territory for a successful breakaway: four category-four climbs and constant undulations on the road from Albi to Blagnac will make today’s stage difficult to control for any team that wishes to try.
There will also be tired bodies in the peloton, with five hard stages already in the riders’ legs, and almost certainly there will be a few riders lurking in the bunch who have held something back in the last couple of stages with a view to prioritising victory today.
On Tuesday we saw Julie Van de Velde caught agonisingly close to the finish line in Montignac-Lascaux, but today we are far more likely to see a larger group clip off the front and attempt to keep the peloton at bay.
Stage start time: 1.20pm BST/2.20 CET
