ALBI (FRANCE) - Rookie Ricarda Bauernfeind broke away to take the fifth stage of the Women's Tour de France on Thursday while Demi Vollering, one of the race favourites, slid down the standings after being hit with a 20-second penalty
Lotte Kopecky increased her overall lead after finishing fourth, at the front of the chasing pack, because her team-mate Vollering, who started the day in second and finished in the same time, was punished for "drafting".
Vollering suffered a rear-wheel puncture with 65km to go and dropped back to the SD Worx team car.
As a race marshall shouted at her to stop, the Dutch rider tucked into the slipstream of the car, which was trying to weave between the vehicles of other teams, as she set off in pursuit of the peloton.
After a video review, she was hit with a penalty that dropped her from second to seventh. She is 1min 3sec behind Belgian Kopecky but more importantly slipped 12sec behind her great Dutch rival Annemiek van Vleuten, the defending champion, who is fifth.
"I have no clue why I get this penalty," Vollering told Cyclingnews.
"I could not pass when there are two lines of cars next to each other. I dare not to pass because it's so dangerous"
"I never knew that this was forbidden, to come after a mechanical."
Kopecky said her team-mate's punishment was "astonishing."
"This penalty is too severe," said Kopecky. "Demi took shelter after suffering a puncture, not because she was in difficulty."
South African Ashleigh Moolman jumped to second, 49sec behind Kopecky.
Bauernfeind, in her first season at the elite professional level, was overjoyed after becoming the youngest stage winner in the two-year history of the event.
"It's fantastic," the 23-year-old German told Eurosport.
Bauernfeind broke away on a short climb with 36km to go and then held on as the main contenders in the chasing pack waited for others to lead the pursuit.
She finished 22 seconds ahead of Swiss rider Marlen Reusser and compatriot Liane Lippert with Kopecky fourth, another 10 seconds back, at the head of the pack.
Bauernfeind, just 1.66m (5-foot-4) tall, also gave her Canyon team a first big win after they had hunted down an early breakaway.
"An incredible team ride we had to chase the first group because I missed it," she said. "Then it was up to me and I tried to attack and it worked out."
On Friday, the peloton will travel from Albi to Blagnac on a largely flat 122km route that should favour the sprinters.