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Tour de France Femmes Daily | Stage 5 | A battling day for EF Education-Oatly with everything still to play for

Alison goes on the attack again as teamwork helps Cédrine climb into the top ten overall

July 30, 2025

Stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes was a day of mixed emotions for EF Education-Oatly after the entire team gave its all on the road from Futuroscope to Guéret.

The 165.8km stage was the hardest day of racing so far in this year’s race, and the team had to sadly say goodbye to Kristen Faulkner after the double Olympic champion was forced to leave the race after a gutsy but difficult few days fighting fatigue.

The team kept battling, and once again Alison Jackson was at the center of the action with a bold attack that saw the Canadian national champion link up with four other riders. The quintet worked to build a sizeable lead over the peloton, and at one point, the break had around four minutes over the main field.

Meanwhile, back in the peloton, our GC contender, Cédrine Kerbaol, was kept out of trouble and away from the wind by her remaining teammates. It was a strong position for the team, especially as Alison’s second major breakaway of the race allowed the rest of the squad to focus on preparing for the undulating finale ahead.

On the first categorized climb of the stage, the Côte de Chabannes, Cédrine was well positioned near the front as Alison tapped away and kept the break clear of the chase.

The next climb of the Côte du Peyroux saw Alison lose ground on the two other remaining breakaway riders, but back in the peloton Magdeleine Vallieres and Noemi Rüegg made sure that Cédrine was well positioned as the yellow jersey group thinned down to less than thirty riders.

Over the top, and Magdeleine marked a key attack in order to maintain Cédrine’s position, and on the Le Maupuy, the final categorized climb of the stage, the race began to split.

Cédrine hung on but was eventually forced to ride at her own tempo as the gradient continued to rise. She then helped form a combative chase group on the long descent towards the finish and rode her heart out to limit her losses and keep her GC dreams alive. Her efforts saw her rise three places and into the top ten overall, 1:16 away from the yellow jersey, but with everything still to play for.

Read Cédrine and her teammates’ thoughts from the finish of stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes.

Cédrine Kerbaol

It was a tough day. I lost some time in the general classification. I’m a little disappointed for now, but it will pass. It is a bit hard to say that I targeted this one. It was more of a punchy finish than one for climbers today. The goal, once again, was not to lose time. And I’m a bit disappointed, because I did lose time today. The sensations weren’t the best. We’ll analyze what happened, but I think, in the end, the form is there.

We’ve had some very, very punchy finishes these past few days. That’s not necessarily what suits me best. I have to keep my head up and keep believing.

The Tour is race that’s demanding — physically and mentally. Today, beyond the fact that it was physically hard, it was even more mentally taxing. It was long, there was jostling from the start, and a lot of crashes. Honestly, I was really quite stressed mentally, but here are other days coming and there are longer climbs ahead, so I will move on.

Alison Jackson

What I love about cycling is figuring out the game and the moment when to go. I guess I'm good at it. It's fun. After about a hundred kilometers, being in the break really puts a lot of effort in the legs, but we're here to race and we want to be in the action.

I have ridden quite a few breaks with Catalina Soto. When I bridged to the other two, I knew that she was with me and that we would have a good break.

When Brody Chapman came, she was fresher than the rest of us in there. I knew that going into the final climbs she was really going to put me under pressure. I suffered so much on the first KOM just to stick in it and then I just had nothing left.

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