Kimberley Le Court wins Tour of Britain Women as Lorena Wiebes takes fourth stage

Final stage sprint in Warwickshire

Dutch sprinter Lorena Wiebes of SD Worx-Protime won the fifth and final stage of the Tour of Britain Women in Royal Leamington Spa. The 123.8-kilometre route started and finished in the Warwickshire town, ending in a mass sprint finish. Wiebes sprinted across the line ahead of Irish rider Lara Gillespie of UAE Team ADQ and Italian rider Chiara Consonni of Canyon-SRAM. British riders Zoe Backstedt and Pfeiffer Georgi completed the top five in fourth and fifth places, while Belgian rider Fleur Moors crossed the line in twelfth position. The result delivered Wiebes her fourth stage victory across the five-day race, following earlier sprint wins on stages one, two, and four.

The 110-kilometre breakaway

The stage was animated by an early three-rider attack launched 110 kilometres from the finish line. Eva van Agt of FDJ-Suez, a teammate of Tour de France Femmes winner Demi Vollering, initiated the move and was joined by Alice Towers of EF Education-Oatly and Sara Martin of Movistar. The trio collaborated to build a maximum advantage approaching two and a half minutes over the peloton. The gap began to decline over the climbs of Sun Rising Hill and Burton Dassett as the chasing peloton elevated its pace on the approach to Royal Leamington Spa. The breakaway maintained a 30-second margin with under five kilometres left before the peloton caught them 1,300 metres from the line.

General classification outcome

Despite Wiebes dominating the sprint finishes, Kimberley Le Court of AG Insurance-Soudal won the overall general classification of the WorldTour stage race. The 30-year-old Mauritian rider had established her decisive lead on Friday during stage three with a solo victory on the Great Orme overlooking Llandudno. Le Court gained 37 seconds on Wiebes on that mountain stage, providing an advantage that proved sufficient across the remaining weekend stages. Le Court concluded the race 19 seconds ahead of Wiebes in second place, while German rider Liane Lippert of Movistar finished third at 24 seconds. Moors placed twelfth overall, 1 minute and 14 seconds behind the winner.

Career records and race history

The overall victory was the first stage-race title of Le Court's career, marking her fifth win of the season and the 17th of her professional career. Her campaign also includes a stage win and a ninth-place overall finish at the Tour de France Femmes. For Wiebes, the victory in Royal Leamington Spa was the 137th win of her career and her 11th individual stage win in the Tour of Britain. The competition was the 11th edition of the Tour of Britain Women. Le Court became the first Mauritian winner of the race, succeeding New Zealand rider Ally Wollaston and 2024 champion Lotte Kopecky on the roll of honour.