Lorena Wiebes wins Tour of Britain Women stage 5 as Kim Le Court seals overall victory

The fifth and final stage of the women’s Tour of Britain was won on Sunday by Lorena Wiebes. Three breakaway riders managed to stay clear for a long time, but eventually the usual laws of women’s cycling prevailed: the Dutchwoman was quite simply the fastest rider in the race. Kimberley Le Court never saw her leader’s jersey come under serious threat and therefore secured overall victory.

Wiebes, Wiebes, Le Court, and Wiebes again: those were the winners in Great Britain heading into Sunday’s finale. It was the Mauritian rider from AG Insurance-Soudal, however, who had taken control of the general classification. Le Court started the final day with a 24-second advantage over nearest challenger Liane Lippert of Movistar, while Wiebes sat 29 seconds behind.

She had to defend that advantage on an almost completely flat course. The 123.8-kilometre stage contained very little climbing, and in women’s cycling that generally means Wiebes immediately starts as the overwhelming favourite. On paper, the chances for most of her rivals were considerably smaller.

Fortunately, not everyone was prepared simply to accept that scenario. Attacks came almost immediately after the start, with Eva van Agt of FDJ-SUEZ among the riders who opened a gap. The Dutch rider was joined by home favourite Alice Towers, representing the British national team, and the pair moved clear of the peloton. Sara Martín of Movistar later bridged across to make it a three-rider breakaway.

The route was largely flat, although two short second-category climbs followed with around 40 kilometres remaining. Several teams tried to increase the pressure there and make the race considerably harder, producing an entertaining intermediate phase. Nobody managed to escape, though, and there was no major selection in the peloton either.

A sprint therefore looked increasingly likely, although the three leaders still had to be caught. With 16 kilometres to go, they continued to hold an advantage of around one minute, even as the pace in the peloton increased sharply. The trio nevertheless continued to resist for an impressively long time.

Their adventure finally ended with only 1.3 kilometres remaining, leaving the teams with a relatively short run-in to organise their sprint trains. That was no problem at all for Wiebes. The Dutch sprinter powered to her fourth stage victory of this year’s Tour of Britain Women, once again proving comfortably the strongest in the final metres. Le Court, meanwhile, completed the stage without difficulty and wrapped up overall victory.

Lorena Wiebes