Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) won stage 1 of the Tour of Britain Women, beating Letizia Paternoster (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) to the line in a photo-finish sprint of a front group of nine riders, with Pfeiffer Georgi (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) finishing third.
The British champion's move on the second-category climb of Ty'n y Llidiart was what led to the front group of nine riders getting away.
With two WWT teams and the British national team represented by two riders each, they built an advantage of almost four minutes on what remained of the peloton after a hard stage through the Welsh mountains.
Despite an attack by Anna Henderson (Great Britain), the breakaway stayed together unto the Promenade in Llandudno where Christine Majerus (SD Worx-Protime) led out the sprint. Kopecky kicked with 200 metres to go, but on the final metres, Paternoster came around the world champion, and both riders threw their bikes on the line. Paternoster raised her hand after the finish, but after consulting the finish photo, Kopecky was declared the winner and is also the first overall leader.
"I made a couple of mistakes in the sprint myself, but then we came to the line and I was like, 'OK, I can do only one more thing, the best jump I can'. Once we crossed the finish line, Letizia raised her hand, and I was like, 'I'm not sure I won, but I'm also not sure that you won'. It took quite a while before we found out I won," Kopecky looked back on the finish in the post-stage interview.
"It was a nice stage, pretty hilly, never flat, but there was also a lot of headwind. That made it a bit slower, but I'm happy that we could get a break on the last climb. We had a really good group in the front, and I was happy to have Christine Majerus with me. When you go to the finish and there are two riders of a team, you know that they start playing the game. It was a nice final," Kopecky said.
How it unfolded
The 142.4-kilometre stage from Welshpool to Llandudno was a continuous up-and-down, but only two of the day's climbs were classified: The 6.1-kilometre ascent from Llangynog and the climb of Ty'n y Llidiart.
Josie Talbot (Cofidis), the first attacker of the day, was caught by a counterattack of eight riders led by Majerus before the whole group was reeled in by the peloton. Rotem Gafinovitz (Hess Cycling Team) was next to go away, but the Israeli rider was caught before the Llangynog climb where Heidi Franz (Lifeplus-Wahoo) took maximum points.
After the descent to Bala, a group of six riders briefly got away, and when they were caught, Lucy Harris (Pro-Noctis-200° Coffee-Hargreaves Contracting) went on a solo breakaway. She had a 50-second advantage before being caught on the Ty'n y Llidiart climb, but her efforts earned Harris the combativity prize.
Georgi's attack was joined by Henderson and Lizzie Deignan (Great Britain), and Majerus also jumped across before Kopecky bridged the gap with Paternoster, Eline Jansen (VolkerWessels), Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv-AlUla-Jayco), and Victorie Guilman (St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93).
With 37.9km to go, Deignan led the group over the QOM line, earning herself enough points to take the blue QOM jersey. The next group was only 11 seconds behind, but as SD Worx-Protime, Liv-AlUla-Jayco, and the British national team each had two riders up front and DSM-Firmenich PostNL also were represented, there were few teams left in the peloton with an interest in closing the gap.
Paternoster won the intermediate sprint in Dolgarrog ahead of Kopecky and Georgi, and although the British Continental teams tried to organise a chase, the breakaway's advantage continued to grow all the way to the finish line where they were 3:49 minutes ahead.
Henderson's attack with 2.5km to go was quickly neutralised by Roseman-Gannon, and Majerus led the group onto Llandudno's Promenade for the sprint that her teammate won in a photo-finish. Lucy Lee (DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK) had attacked from the peloton in Conwy and celebrated her 26th birthday by holding off the sprinters by a second to take tenth place.
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