Young Briton gets third win in a row as Vicki Whitelaw holds the lead under pressure from Sharon Laws

Lizzie Armitstead (Cervélo TestTeam) won the fifth stage of the Tour de l’Ardeche between Saint Martin d’Ardeche and Villeneuve de Berg. The British rider outsprinted Grace Verbeke (Lotto Ladies) and Andréa Grauss (Chirio Forno d’Asolo) to take her third successive stage of the race.

“Again today it was a really strong team performance. We did some attacks during the race to bring Sharon in the best position but we were not able to drop Whitelaw,” said Armitstead after the stage. “In the final we tried again to get Sharon [Laws] in the best position and to bring her in the right break away but we couldn’t make a gap so I made the sprint with quite a big bunch.

“I just gave it full gas and was able to pass the line first. This is a new thing to win three times in a row.”

The 114.6km stage was once again dominated by the Cervélo TestTeam and Lotto Ladies, the two biggest teams in the race, as Cervélo’s second-placed Sharon Laws tried to shake off Lotto’s race leader Vicki Whitelaw. The Briton managed to gap the Australian twice on the stage’s climbs, but was caught again both times on the descent.

The closing kilometres of the stage were exposed to a stiff wind, with the high pace reducing the peloton to just 40 riders. On the uphill finishing straight through the village of Villeneuve, Armitstead finished well clear of Verbeke, with the Ronde van Vlaanderen winner herself well clear of Grauss and fourth-placed Christel Ferrier-Bruneau.

Result stage 5
1. Elizabeth Armitstead (GBr) Cervélo TestTeam
2. Grace Verbeke (Bel) Lotto Ladies Team
3. Andréa Grauss (Aut) ASC Chirio Forno d’Asolo
4. Christel Ferrier-Bruneau (Fra) French National Team
5. Sharon Laws (GBr) Cervélo TestTeam
6. Layoya Brulee (Bel) Mixteam Malderen/RedSun
7. Vicki Whitelaw (Aus) Lotto Ladies Team
8. Vilija Sereikaite (Ltu) Lithuanian National Team
9. Daphny Van Den Brand (Ned) Netherlands National Team
10. Christine Majerus (Lux) ESGL 93-GSD Gestion

Standings after stage 5
1. Vicki Whitelaw (Aus) Lotto Ladies Team
2. Sharon Laws (GBr) Cervélo TestTeam @ 4s
3. Ruth Corset (Aus) Australian National Team @ 1’29”
4. Lizzie Armitstead (GBr) Cervélo TestTeam @ 1’33”
5. Grace Verbeke (Bel) Lotto Ladies Team @ 1’43”