photo credits @ Women’s Tour/Twitter
excerpts from Women’s Tour
Lisa Brennauer clinched the overall victory in the Aviva Women’s Tour, surviving an attacking final day of racing through the Chiltern Hills from Marlow to Hemel Hempstead, won by Hannah Barnes.
The UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling rider sprinted to victory in the Premier Inn Best British Rider Jersey as the peloton once again caught the day’s break of Claudia Lichtenberg and Audrey Cordon inside the final kilometer.
The duo were finally reeled in by a fast charging peloton on the arrow straight final 500-meters, setting up an exciting finish with Barnes coming through to claim her biggest victory to date, along with both the Premier Inn Best British Rider and SweetSpot Best Young Rider prizes by virtue of her fifth overall.
Behind Barnes Stage Two winner Jolien D’hoore took second with Simona Frapporti third, while General Classification Contenders Brennauer, Majerus and Johansson took fourth, fifth and seventh respectively.
The World Time Trial Champion’s consistent finishing of top six places on all five stages earned her the Chain Reaction Cycles Points Jersey to pair with her Aviva Yellow Jersey, finishing with a six second advantage over D’hoore with Majerus a further second back.
“This Tour is one of the biggest events on the women’s calendar, so this victory means a lot to me. It was a great victory for me, but also for the whole team – big thanks to all my team mates,” said the Velocio SRAM rider afterwards
“I have to thank my team mates, it wasn’t easy today – a tough stage with all the hills and a lot of hard attacks.
“I worked hard yesterday to get the jersey back. I missed some of the intermediate sprints. I wanted to get to the point where I could give back to my team-mates for all their hard work.”
Having started amidst the biggest crowds of the week in Marlow in Buckinghamshire, riders headed into the Chiltern Hills for a stage of attacking racing. A lead group of four riders, including eventual YodelDirect Combativity Winner Gracie Elvin, formed early on but were caught by the top of the first Strava Queen of the Mountains climb of Cryers Hill as the General Classification contenders fought for bonus seconds at the first Chain Reaction Cycles Sprint at Prestwood, which came almost immediately afterwards.
Lichtenberg then attacked on one of the day’s, many, unclassified climbs with many riders trying to cross to her, but Wiggle Honda’s Cordon was the only one to make the junction with thirteen kilometers remaining.
Yet again though in the Aviva Women’s Tour the escape would not prevail, setting up Barnes for a highly popular win in Hemel Hempstead
“This was the biggest aim of the year, so I’m happy to have pulled it off.
“I knew it would be hard in the Chilterns and what to expect. The sprint was crazy, very difficult. I got boxed at 100m to go but thankfully got free. The team are normally used to the American peloton & wide roads,” continued Barnes, before praising teammate Alexis Ryan for protecting her in “the Alexis bubble”.
With breakaway riders sweeping up the big points at both Strava Queen of the Mountains climbs Orica AIS rider Melissa Hoskins extended her lead by a point to keep hold of the orange polka dot jersey ahead of Elise Delzenne.
The Boels Dolmans team added the Aviva Team Classification to their two stage wins with Elisa Longo Borghini claimed the Overall YodelDirect Combativity Award having been at the front of the action on several stages.
Top 20 Finishers
1 Hannah Barnes (GBr) Unitedhealthcare Professional Cycling Team 2:40:51 2 Jolien D’Hoore (Bel) Wiggle Honda 3 Simona Frapporti (Ita) Ale Cipollini 4 Lisa Brennauer (Ger) Velocio – SRAM 5 Christine Majerus (Lux) Boels Dolmans Cycling Team 6 Sara Mustonen (Swe) Team Liv-Plantur 7 Emma Johansson (Swe) Orica – Ais 8 Katie Archibald (GBr) Pearl Izumi Sport Tours 9 Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Ita) Ale Cipollini 10 Roxane Knetemann (Ned) Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team 11 Anouska Koster (Ned) Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team 12 Marta Tagliaferro (Ita) Ale Cipollini 13 Maura Kinsella (USA) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 14 Pascale Jeuland (Fra) Poitou-Charentes.Futuroscope.89 15 Leah Kirchmann (Can) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 16 Lotta Lepistö (Fin) Bigla Pro Cycling Team 17 Lauren Stephens (USA) USA National Team 18 Susanna Zorzi (Ita) Lotto Soudal Ladies 19 Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) Wiggle Honda 20 Alexis Ryan (USA) Unitedhealthcare Professional Cycling Team
Final general classification after stage 5
1 Lisa Brennauer (Ger) Velocio – SRAM 15:03:24 2 Jolien D’Hoore (Bel) Wiggle Honda 0:00:06 3 Christine Majerus (Lux) Boels Dolmans Cycling Team 0:00:07 4 Emma Johansson (Swe) Orica – Ais 0:00:13 5 Hannah Barnes (GBr) Unitedhealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:00:14 6 Simona Frapporti (Ita) Ale Cipollini 0:00:26 7 Leah Kirchmann (Can) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 0:00:29 8 Alexis Ryan (USA) Unitedhealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:00:30 9 Pascale Jeuland (Fra) Poitou-Charentes.Futuroscope.89 10 Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Ita) Ale Cipollini 11 Roxane Knetemann (Ned) Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team 12 Susanna Zorzi (Ita) Lotto Soudal Ladies 13 Lauren Stephens (USA) USA National Team 14 Amalie Dideriksen (Den) Boels Dolmans Cycling Team 15 Lotta Lepistö (Fin) Bigla Pro Cycling Team 0:00:33 16 Sara Mustonen (Swe) Team Liv-Plantur 0:00:37 17 Laura Trott (GBr) Matrix Fitness 18 Maura Kinsella (USA) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 19 Katarzyna Pawlowska (Pol) Boels Dolmans Cycling Team 0:00:42 20 Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Wiggle Honda
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