Demi Vollering sends warning to Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift GC leader Marlen Reusser after sprint win on Stage 5

Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift Stage 5 winner Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) warned rival Marlen Reusser she would have to "work"for her maiden title in the iconic Grand Tour. Vollering outsprinted Reusser and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney to keep the general classification (GC) tight at the top.

While Vollering and Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) have the valuable experience of winning Tour titles in their careers, Movistar's Reusser is working towards her first.

The Swiss rider is just 12" ahead of Vollering in the GC standings after a dramatic stage on Wednesday, with Niewiadoma-Phinney a further 1'17" back.

Vollering was teammates with Reusser at SD Worx for three seasons and says she looks in a good position with four stages remaining.

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"For her it looks very bright now." Vollering said about Reusser.

"The good thing is I have won a Tour already, Kasia as well, Marlen is the one who never managed to win it yet, so she has to work for it as well.

"I’m sure it’ll be a hard battle, because she is not a rider you can beat easily. She’s very strong, but I’ll try everything to do that."

In a fascinating final few moments of Stage 5, Niewiadoma-Phinney launched her sprint early and got a jump on Vollering and Reusser, but she was drawn back by the immense power of her rivals in the final kilometre.

The trio all crossed in the same time, but it was Vollering who crucially took the win, letting out a roar and holding her arms aloft in celebration after a thrilling day of action.

Vollering warns Reusser she must "work" for maiden Tour crown

Video credit: TNT Sports

Dissecting the sprint, Vollering said: "I knew Kasia would go early, because she always does, I know Marlen would gamble, so I let her gamble a bit to make her work, but she didn’t, and then I was like, 'Okay, if you don’t do anything then Kasia is going to win, so then I don’t even try'.

"I was like, 'Okay, I just have to try'.

"I gave it my everything up until the line, it was a very long sprint, and I needed every single metre on that last finish straight and I managed to do it. I’m very happy."

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There was an intriguing moment in which the three riders appeared to be interacting, and Vollering revealed what was said during the exchange.

"It was going well, I don’t know, we didn’t talk too much," Vollering continued. "At one point Marlen stopped riding, so I said, 'Come on, we won a Tour already, you should keep pushing a bit'.

"We all agreed to go for as much time as we could get. That was nice."

And she took extra delight in the manner in which her team worked together throughout the race.

"It was a really cool race, the whole team, every single rider was part of it," Vollering said.

"I enjoy those victories the most. When everyone puts the hard work in, it’s even more special and beautiful because you do it all together.

"The way I managed to win the sprint, I thought I wasn’t going to make it, I somehow did. It was a relief at the finish line."

Reusser said she was "annoyed" with her own performance in the sprint finish.

"My momentum was gone. I was asleep. I don't know what I did," she said.

"I'm really annoyed with myself. This is a bit sad. It's a tour stage win. I don't say that I would have won, but I just did the opposite of winning.

"I should be - and I am - super happy about the day and that I'm in yellow still."

Pauline Ferrand-Prevot admitted her title defence looks over after she fell five minutes behind Reusser in the GC.

Ferrand-Prevot was dropped on the penultimate climb and finished 2'35" behind Vollering.

”I have to be honest, yes,” she said when asked if her chances of winning again were finished.

"I mean, I haven't seen the gaps yet, but yeah, I think it’s over. Now we have to refocus, change the plan maybe. We have to make a new plan."

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