Kim le Court became the first African to win a stage at the Tour de France Femmes, with her victory on stage five meaning she also took the yellow jersey from Marianne Vos.
Mauritian champion Le Court took a risk as she sat up to celebrate as she crossed the line in Gueret, but she held on to beat fast-closing Dutchwoman Demi Vollering by a wheel.
The 29-year-old was part of a seven-rider group that broke away from the peloton towards the end of the hilly 165.8km route, the longest stage of the fourth edition of the Tour de France Femmes.
She was the fastest finisher in the group and duly delivered, and now leads France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot by 18 seconds, while Vos drops to sixth after finishing in a group 33 seconds off the pace.
Olympic road race champion Kristen Faulkner withdrew after crashing in the neutralised zone before the official start, the third successive day on which the American had fallen.
With four stages remaining, on Thursday riders will tackle the first mountain stage of the tour, a 123.7km route between Clermont-Ferrand and Ambert.
