Going into the ultimate stage of the Tour of Britain Ladies, the British Nationwide Staff had Anna Henderson in second place general and Lizzie Deignan carrying the blue QOM jersey. The day turned out to be rainier than anticipated, and Nice Britain took the combat to SD Worx-Protime who needed to work onerous to defend Lotte Kopecky’s GC lead.
“It was unbelievable, Lizzie did such job, she actually put SD Worx below stress. That was actually, actually superb, after which she simply saved making an attempt 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 sturdy in the present day. 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 niche excessive, the 35-year-old determined to maintain going.
“Once more, it was completely accidentally. I got here to the highest of the primary QOM and I simply thought, ‘oh, effectively, let’s simply push on’. At the least that put Anna in a pleasant place, and I hoped possibly she’d leap on the [Ramsbottom] Rake with Kopecky, and we’d be capable to play the numbers recreation,” Deignan defined.
Henderson and Kopecky had been a part of a gaggle of 4 that received away on the Ramsbottom Rake, however they may not attain Deignan who continued on her personal earlier than being caught with 40km to go. Within the closing, the crew tried to arrange Henderson for an assault.
“I used to be making an attempt to actually make it as aggressive as potential, that was our greatest likelihood. I’m all the time anyone who desires to win the race, and our greatest likelihood for Anna to win the race was a tough race. I wasn’t going to only give it to Kopecky on a plate,” stated Deignan.
Though they couldn’t topple Kopecky ultimately, the nationwide choice had a profitable week. They put in sturdy crew efficiency in assist 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 very sturdy group of girls coming by. I used to be happy to have the ability to assist Flora within the dash yesterday, she got here fifth in a very sturdy group, and it was cool to see her fulfil her potential as effectively,” Deignan concluded.
