Demi Vollaring was penalized 20 seconds for slipstreaming behind the SD Worx team car on the fifth stage to Albi, and before the decisive mountain stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, his overall rival He dropped to seventh overall, 12 seconds behind Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar).

Vollering suffered a rear wheel puncture with 65km to go. She had her team mechanic fix it and jumped into the slipstream of SD Worx to chase the peloton for at least a minute.

At one point, the SD Worx team car, presumably driven by Danny Stamm, veered onto the left side of the grass to avoid the other teams in the convoy.

The race commissaire on his motorcycle whistled repeatedly to dissuade Volering and Stamm. When the commissaires caught up to the team car, they pointed at the driver and gestured that they would be reported.

Video Assisted Referee (VAR) was also active at the Tour de France Femme, and the stage results soon showed that Vollaring had been penalized 20 seconds.

Vollaring entered the lead group with the same time as race leader and SD Works teammate Lotte Kopecky. However, she dropped from second place, 43 seconds behind, to seventh, 1:03 behind Kopecky and 12 seconds behind van Breuten.

"I have no idea why I'm getting this penalty," Volering said when Cycling News women's editor Carsten Frattini asked her about the 20-second time penalty.

"I was behind the car in the beginning, but I thought Danny was in his place in the caravan and I went directly around him, partly because I didn't have a place at first. He was on the left and I couldn't pass him when there were two rows of cars next to each other. I didn't dare go through because it was too dangerous."

"I didn't know that it was forbidden to come after the mechanic. Because later Danny came more forward to get the bottles and I took two bottles. Then I went back to the group with Christine Majerus. I need to discuss this with Danny because I did not see everything."

As a result, Volering plummeted from second to seventh in the battle for the yellow jersey. She is now 1:03 behind teammate Lotte Kopecky and 12 seconds behind Vruten, the Tour de France women's champion.

Kopecky retained her spot in the yellow jersey, 51 seconds ahead of second-place Ashley Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal-Quick Step), third-place Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), fourth-place Elisa Longo Borghini (Riddle Trek ) and Van Vleuten (Movistar) in fifth place, all with the same time.