A year ago, Ricarda Bauernfind was a member of the Canyon-SRAM Generation, watching the Tour de France Femme on television. After a number of good results, she and teammate Antonia Niedermeier "moved" to Canyon-SRAM Racing in the Women's World Tour, where they won a stage of the Tour de France Femme with a solo attack on Albi.

"It makes a huge difference. Last year I saw pictures and watched all the stages on TV, but now that I'm here it's very special and I'm really enjoying it."

After stage 5 of the Tour de France Femme, in which the peloton split into several groups midway through the Côte de Najac, Bauernfeind was instructed by the team car to attack in the drag to the bonus sprint in Castelfadès.

"I was already tired and thought, "If I go on this attack, I might get dropped on the next climb." But I trusted DS and ran," said the 23-year-old German.

Bauernfeind knew that two strong riders, Marlen Reusser (Team SD Walks) and Liane Lippert (Movistar Team), were chasing behind her, so she did her best to get to the line before celebrating the biggest win of her career.

"I wanted to be first across the finish line. Marlen Reusser was behind me and she always chases fast," Bauernfind said.

Reusser and Lippert said after the race that they were very pleased with Bauernfind's victory and were cheering her on as they chased her. It touched Bauernfind's heart that two such accomplished riders were so pleased with her victory.

"Oh, that makes me so happy. I'm really happy," she said.

Bauernfind's trajectory to the pinnacle of the sport is all the more remarkable because she just joined the UCI team for the 2022 season. Prior to that, she raced in her hometown of RSG Ansbach, Germany, and won two national junior championships on the track, but ultimately Bauernfind decided to focus on her studies.

"I wanted to become a teacher, so I started studying for that. Then came the pandemic. I did a lot of Zwift to stay in shape and competed in the German Championships. But I stopped because I lost a little bit of the fun. I was always putting pressure on myself. Then I got the opportunity to join the Canyon-SRAM Generation team. There, the focus was on learning and developing riders without the pressure. It was a great step for me in terms of learning to race in a big group. The gap between national and international racing is still huge. I am finally able to join the Canyon-SRAM Racing team and I am happy to be here now," Bauernfind said of his unusual path to a Tour stage win.

Earlier this month, Niedermeier took a stage win at the Giro d'Italia Donne, but Bauernfeind denied there was any mild rivalry between the two young Germans.

"I think we are one team, and winning is pleasing for the team. It doesn't mean we are rivals," he laughed.

With the stage win, Bauernfind also moved up to ninth place overall. Nevertheless, the team will give its all in stage 7, which finishes atop the Col du Tourmalet, for Cassia Nieveviadoma, who is currently in fourth place overall, 51 seconds behind Kopecký.

"With Kasia, we have one of the GC frontrunners. She is very strong on the climbs. Maybe we can both finish in a good position, but right now I am very happy with the stage win," Bauernfind said.