France yesterday to continue her climb up the leaderboard.

Claude finished the day in 106th position, two places better than at the start of the day and in doing so came in in front of Canada-Espagne team-mates Clara Hughes and Darnelle Moore for the first time.

She finished the fifth stage of the event in 92nd place in a time of three hours, 26 minutes -- 19 minutes behind the stage winner.

The category three `Col De Fontfroide' mountain devastated the field to such an extent that by the end of the 109-kilometre stint competitors were split into 10 groups.

Claude worked with 17 other riders in her group, conserving her energy during the race and coming in third in the pack's final sprint for the line.

She faces a tough day today with two events that will sort out the wheat from the chaff. The first event is a 14-kilometre time-trial and the second a 97-kilometre road race.

With the time-trial being Claude's speciality she will be pushing hard with the aim of closing the gap on those ahead of her.

Leading the race overall is Jolanta Polikeviciute, of the Acca Due O Lorena team. She is 16 seconds ahead of second placed Fany Lecourtois of Team Alfa Lum RSM.

Tuesday's leader, Mirjam Melchers of Pays Bas suffered a disappointing day yesterday, slipping to 10th place overall.

Melanie Claude: survived gruelling stage.