Kimberley Le Court celebrates a milestone moment as she becomes the first African cyclist to win a stage at the Tour de France Femmes. Image: Getty Image.
(The Post News)– Mauritian cyclist Kimberley Le Court Pienaar made history on Wednesday, becoming the first African to win a stage at the Tour de France Femmes. The 29-year-old rider from AG Insurance-Soudal clinched a thrilling victory in stage five, a grueling 165.8 km ride from Jaunay-Marigny to Gueret, and reclaimed the coveted yellow jersey in the process.
After leading the general classification earlier in the race, Le Court was overtaken by Marianne Vos. But with a perfectly timed push on the final downhill stretch, she surged past defending champion Demi Vollering to secure the win.
Le Court said the team came into the stage focused on staying safe through the flat, fast terrain, especially with so many crashes. “The goal was to survive the chaos and go for the win, and we pulled it off,” she shared after the stage.
The day saw a flurry of incidents, including the withdrawal of Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner following her third crash of the race. Lorena Wiebes recovered from a fall but faded in the mountains.
Vos lost time in the final climb, dropping to sixth overall. Vollering moved up to third, with Pauline Ferrand-Prevot now in second, just 18 seconds behind Le Court.
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