Elise Chaby (Canyon-SRAM) started stage 5 of the Women's Tour in the green QOM jersey she had inherited from Christine Majerus (Team SD Works) the day before. Classifications had not yet been decided, but the 29-year-old Swiss climber showed hard work on the first two sectional climbs of the stage to defend her lead.

Chavy supported teammate Katarzyna Niewiadoma on the final climb, finishing second on the summit of Black Mountain behind stage winner Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo).

Chaby's lead in the QOM class after finishing second on Friday's Pontiates Hill and Clubbin climbs left only two third class mountains in the final stage.

"I'm happy to be sure I can bring home the jersey. I got good points on the first two climbs so I felt confident and then I could focus on GC with Kasia (Nieviadma). The last climb was super hard, but we did what we could.

Despite winning the QOM jersey in the 2021 Women's Tour, defending it was not something Chaby had in mind from the start of the race.

"The first two stages were there. The first two stages were so-so. But I thought for sure I could do the next two stages. I'm better on stages with a lot of uphill climbs, so I thought I could get some good points."

With Majerus and Gladys Verhulst (Le Cor Wharf) battling for points in the first two stages, Chavy took the points where she could. Then on stage 3, he led the peloton in both QOMs behind various breakaway groups, earning 9 points.

On stage 4, Chavy took part in an attack in the first QOM and led the breakaway in the second QOM.

Majerus had a plan and attacked early in the stage, but Chaby caught up to her on the first mountain and shut down her attack.

She tried to get into the breakaway really early to chase points. 'Then I had to jump on the summit, which was a lot of work,' she said."

Chaby then led the peloton in the second QOM, making it mathematically impossible for Majerus to jump over her. Ultimately, the Swiss climber worked for Niewiadoma, who finished the stage in second place.

Since she only needed to complete stage 6 to take the green jersey, Chaby and the rest of the Canyon-SRAM team were able to help Nieuwadema win the yellow jersey Grace Brown (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) and stage 5's With only two seconds separating them from winner Longo Borghini, they can focus on setting up Nieves Adoma for the two intermediate sprints.