Ricarda Bauernfeind stormed to the biggest victory of her young career when she won stage five of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift today in Albi. The CANYON//SRAM Racing rider attacked the leading group, consisting of general classification riders and sprinters, with 36km remaining on the stage. She gave a phenomenal ride to hold off the chasers to win with 22 seconds advantage. Teammate Soraya Paladin was second in the small bunch sprint to take fifth on the stage.

“I still can’t believe it. I need some time to realise it,” said an overwhelmed Bauernfeind.

“It was a hard start to the stage, and we missed the early breakaway. Elise (Chabbey), Sarah (Roy), Alice (Towers) and Aga (Skalniak-Sójka) worked really hard to bring it back. Then we had three of us in the first group. There was a good time to attack, and the race car encouraged me. I expected I’d go, get caught straight away and then get dropped on the next climb. But I trusted in the plan from the team car, and I went anyway,” said Bauernfeind about her long-range attack.

“I kept thinking about the words from the team meeting this morning. Our DS Maggy (Bäckstedt) said that the decision would be made in the mind, and this is my strength. I couldn’t hear the time gaps in the final, but I was looking at the faces of the fans on the side of the road in the last 500m, and they were looking quite a long way behind. I thought, ok, so they can’t be that close to catching me.”

“I didn’t believe I’d won until after I crossed the finish line. I’m just so happy. This victory is for everyone from the team, including the staff,” added Bauernfeind.

In 2019, Bauernfeind took a break from cycling and focused on her university studies. She returned to pro cycling in 2022 and spent a year racing with CANYON//SRAM Generation, the development team of her current World Tour outfit. Learn more about Bauernfeind’s story in an exclusive at-home interview here.

“Spending a year with CANYON//SRAM Generation was the best step for me, “said Bauernfeind, who also happens to be at level 56 on Zwift.

“I had time to develop and learn to be a professional rider without the pressure. Now, I’m here with CANYON//SRAM Racing. I can’t believe I just won a stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift!”

For her brave attack, Bauernfeind also won the award for the Most Combative and moved to ninth place in the general classification at +1:38. Teammate Kasia Niewiadoma retains fourth in the GC at +51 seconds behind Lotte Kopecky, who has held the yellow jersey since the first day.

CANYON//SRAM Racing uses a special edition design across its clothing, bikes, helmets, glasses and bottles for the race. More details on the exclusive design can be found here.

HOW TO WATCH

The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift can be followed on Twitter with #TDFF2023 and #WatchTheFemmes.

A daily broadcast can be found on France 3, RTBF, VRT, DKTV2, TG4, NOS, TV2, Eurosport, GCN, RTVE, SRG-SSR, FloBikes, CNBC, Peacock, ESPN, BeIn Sports, SKY Sport, VRT, SSC, Zhibo.tv and TV5 Monde.

Stage 6 | Albi – Blagnac | 122.1km | 14:20CEST | Broadcast 15:20CEST

Stage 7 | Lannemezan – Tourmalet | 89.8km | 16:15CEST | Broadcast 16:05CEST

Stage 8 ITT | Pau – Pau | 22.6km | First rider 14:30CEST | Broadcast 15:20CEST

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