‘We’re fighting for every second possible’ – yellow jersey battle erupts on Tour de France Femmes stage five

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, all the GC contenders want to bank as much as they can.