Ricarda Bauernfeind wins Tour de France Femmes stage five as SD Worx struggle

Ricarda Bauernfeind took a superb solo win on stage five of the Tour de France Femmes in Albi on a bad day for the in-form SD Worx squad.

The Dutch super team have dominated the season to date and already have two stage wins in this Tour with Lotte Kopecky in the yellow jersey.

But things went wrong on Thursday as tactical mistakes cost Kopecky a shot at her second stage win of the race, their main general classification contender Demi Vollering was penalised 20 seconds for drafting behind the team car and stage three winner Lorena Wiebes went home with stomach problems.

Bauernfeind, 23, was the one who capitalised as she attacked from a reduced peloton with 36km to go and, with SD Worx hesitating behind and looking for others to do the work, built a lead of more than a minute, on her way to victory for Canyon//SRAM in her first year as a WorldTour professional.

SD Worx's Marlen Reusser did her best to chase down the attack and set up Kopecky, but came home 22 seconds later in second place, with Kopecky looking frustrated as she led home the main contenders to take fourth.

"Of course it’s a missed opportunity," Reusser said. "Lotte is the fastest in the group…to be honest we miscalculated and we went a bit slower to discourage counter attacks. Maybe we overdid this."

The 126.5km stage from Onet-le-Chateau was pegged as one for the quick women but it proved a harder day than expected in searing temperatures, with former British champion Alice Barnes among nine riders who missed the initial time cut, albeit allowed to remain in the race after being delayed by a train.

An ill-timed puncture for Vollering left her off the back when the pace was on and the commissaires spotted her team car trying to pace her back to the peloton,