Thrilling final stage at Tour of Britain: Wiebes wins, Wollaston snatches overall victory from Ferguson

The chaos of the third stage must have been still fresh in the minds of the riders on Sunday. The rain-soaked stage caused several crashes, resulting in Kristen Faulkner losing the leader's jersey. Cat Ferguson (Movistar) won the stage and took over the leader's jersey. In the final stage to Glasgow, nothing much would typically happen at the top of the classification. Still, Ally Wollaston (FDJ-SUEZ) was only three seconds behind: the intermediate sprints could well prove crucial.

That meant a fast pace from the start. The top teams didn't let anyone get away in the opening phase of the only 82-kilometer stage, in which the women would complete 10 laps in Scotland's largest city. There were no fewer than three bonus sprints along the way. After about 30 kilometers, the first was prey for Wollaston: she managed to get past the leader and reduce the gap. A little less than 20 kilometers later, it was the same story: once again, the New Zealander beat the young Ferguson. The difference was now only 1 second!

Lidl-Trek wanted to avoid a sprint on the challenging course in Scotland, which was constantly twisting and turning. Riejanne Markus went on an adventure, alternating her attacks with teammate Anna Henderson. But Visma | Lease a Bike kept up the pace, and SD Worx-Protime also moved to the front: neither team had yet won a race in Great Britain. It was time for the next intermediate sprint, but Ferguson had some bad luck before it came. The leader had to change bikes and suddenly found herself in the chase.

Fortunately, she was able to return quickly to the twisty circuit. The following intermediate sprint could decide the race: if Wollaston won there and Ferguson finished third or lower, the British rider would lose the lead. This time, it was Wollaston who started the sprint first, and with the help of her team, she managed to stay ahead of her rival. The result: two women at the same time! Anyone who took bonus seconds at the finish would be sure of victory.

It was a tense wait for the sprint, with so much still at stake. Anna Morris (Great Britain national team) tried to avoid the sprint, but she had no chance against the sprint trains that were slowly getting up to speed. Picnic PostNL brought Charlotte Kool to the front, but SD Worx also got involved. It was set to be a sprint with multiple storylines. However, Wollaston got involved late in the sprint: Wiebes was brought up too early but managed to finish it herself, ahead of Kool. And third? Wollaston! With the bonus seconds, she snatched the overall victory from Ferguson.