Nienke Vinke notes down first top ten in Tour de France Femmes

Nienke Vinke played a key role in Team SD Worx-Protime’s race on stage five of the Tour de France Femmes, spending much of the day in the breakaway. The young Dutch rider eventually crossed the line in seventh place. Lorena Wiebes strengthened her lead in the points classification by collecting 20 points at the intermediate sprint. “It was a tough stage, but we came through it well,” said sports manager Danny Stam.

Danny Stam: "It was great to have Nienke Vinke in the breakaway, and that made it a successful day for us. We expected Anna van der Breggen to be where she was in the standings, and we were pleased to see that she felt a bit better again today."

"We had hoped that Lorena would be able to pick up some more points in the intermediate sprint for the green jersey, and she managed to do that. It was an extremely hard stage, but overall it turned into a good day’s work for us."

Lorena Wiebes: "I’m really happy that I was able to take points at the intermediate sprint. It was a tough day, but it was also a nice group to ride with towards the finish."

"There were a lot of spectators on the final climb, and I really enjoyed that. Tomorrow will be another hard day. There are still four stages to go, and it will be a big fight for the general classification, as well as for us to stay within the time limit."