Going into the ultimate stage of the Tour of Britain Ladies, the British Nationwide Staff had Anna Henderson in second place total and Lizzie Deignan carrying the blue QOM jersey. The day turned out to be rainier than anticipated, and Nice Britain took the battle to SD Worx-Protime who needed to work arduous to defend Lotte Kopecky’s GC lead.
“It was unbelievable, Lizzie did such job, she actually put SD Worx underneath strain. That was actually, actually superb, after which she simply saved attempting to set me up,” stated a shivering Henderson after the stage.
“I may go away with the favourites every time, however I simply could not get away solo to attempt to put that hole between me and Lotte, she was too robust at present. She’s the champion she is, so actually, chapeau to her for successful.”.
On Thursday’s stage 1, Deignan hadn’t deliberate to go for the blue jersey however merely went for the QOM factors as a result of she was in place. Holding a cushty lead in that classification going into stage 4, she went for extra factors atop the Grains Bar climb – and when she had a spot excessive, the 35-year-old determined to maintain going.
“Once more, it was completely by chance. I got here to the highest of the primary QOM and I simply thought, ‘oh, properly, let’s simply push on’. At the least that put Anna in a pleasant place, and I hoped perhaps she’d soar on the [Ramsbottom] Rake with Kopecky, and we’d be capable to play the numbers sport,” Deignan defined.
Henderson and Kopecky had been a part of a gaggle of 4 that obtained away on the Ramsbottom Rake, however they might not attain Deignan who continued on her personal earlier than being caught with 40km to go. Within the remaining, the staff tried to arrange Henderson for an assault.
“I used to be attempting to actually make it as aggressive as doable, that was our greatest probability. I’m at all times anyone who desires to win the race, and our greatest probability for Anna to win the race was a tough race. I wasn’t going to simply give it to Kopecky on a plate,” stated Deignan.
Though they couldn’t topple Kopecky in the long run, the nationwide choice had a profitable week. They put in robust staff efficiency in help of Henderson and Deignan, in addition to seeing Flora Perkins dash to fifth and seventh place respectively on the final two levels.
“We have got a extremely robust group of girls coming by means of. I used to be happy to have the ability to assist Flora within the dash yesterday, she got here fifth in a extremely robust group, and it was cool to see her fulfil her potential as properly,” Deignan concluded.
