After claiming an expected victory in Stage 4's individual time trial, world time trial champion Marlen Reusser (Movistar) arrived at Stage 5 in yellow to face the first real climbing test of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. While Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) eventually won the three-up battle at the line, Reusser left Belleville-en-Beaujolais not just still in yellow, but looking like a genuine contender to wear it all the way to Nice.
On a stage where former Tour winners Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM) repeatedly attacked one another, Reusser never looked rattled.