Tour de France Femmes GC analysis – Battle in the stage 5 hills gives us a taste of what’s to come in the high mountains

With Wednesday’s fifth stage of the Tour de France Femmes, this year’s race has barely ventured into the foothills of the Massif Central, and yet the battle for the general classification already seems clearly defined.

The peloton battled through just over 4,000 metres of climbing during the opening four days, tackling the hills of Brittany and the flatlands of the Loire and Vienne heading east. To date, however, the 2,020 metres of elevation gain on the road to Guéret – mostly concentrated into the trio of late hills – provoked the biggest shake-up in the race yet for the yellow jersey.