Women’s Tour: Grace Brown wins stage four sprint finish to claim overall lead

Cycling
Grace Brown

Grace Brown’s sprint finish secured victory on stage four of the Women’s Tour and the overall lead.

The Australian’s first stage win, a 144.7km route through mid-Wales, began in one market town, Wrexham, and ended in another, Welshpool.

The FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope rider and two others broke away from the pack late on.

Holding off Italian Elisa Longo Borghini and Pole Kasia Niewiadoma, the 29-year-old powered to the line.

The win puts her four seconds clear of Niewiadoma at the top of the general classification with Borghini third, six seconds behind the leader.

Race favourite Lorena Wiebes of Team DSM began the day wearing the yellow jersey after consecutive stage victories in Harlow and Gloucester, but the Dutch rider finished more than a minute behind Brown and now sits eighth, 66 seconds down overall.

The tour stays in Wales on Friday, with a 106km stage in Carmarthenshire which culminates in a punishing 7km climb to the summit of Black Mountain in the Brecon Beacons.

Britain’s leading rider, Elizabeth Holden of the Le Col – Wahoo team, is in 21st place with two stages remaining.

Stage four result:

1. Grace Brown (Aus/FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) 3 hours 48 minutes 34 seconds

2. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol/Canyon/SRAM Racing) +0secs

3. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita/Trek-Segafredo) +0secs

4. Riejanne Markus (Ned/Team Jumbo-Visma) +10secs

5. Alex Manly (Aus/Team BikeExchange-Jayco) +10secs

6. Elise Chabbey (Swi/Canyon/SRAM Racing) +10secs

7. Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (SA/Team SD Worx) +10secs

8. Kristen Faulkner (US/Team BikeExchange-Jayco) +36secs

9. Veronica Ewers (US/EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) +36secs

10. Lorena Wiebes (Ned/Team DSM) +1min 16secs

General classification after stage four:

1. Grace Brown (Aus/FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) 12 hours 39 minutes 11 seconds

2. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol/Canyon/SRAM Racing) +4 secs

3. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita/Trek-Segafredo) +6 secs

4. Alex Manly (Aus/Team BikeExchange-Jayco) +13 secs

5. Elise Chabbey (Swi/Canyon/SRAM Racing) +17secs

6. Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (SA/Team SD Worx) +18secs

7. Kristen Faulkner (US/Team BikeExchange-Jayco) +46secs

8. Lorena Wiebes (Ned/Team DSM) +1min 6secs

9. Veronica Ewers (US/EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) +1min 18secs

10. Sofia Bertizzolo (Ita/UAE Team ADQ) +1min 19secs

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